An iPhone prototype lost, found, and then sold. A police raid on the home of the blogger who broke the story. In a public relations crisis that is largely eclipsed by the much bigger issues of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and Wall Street fraud, the Silicon Valley-based Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT)…
Author Archives: Christa Miller
Gov2Social: Agencies’ new one stop shop
Researching social media use by other police departments – but don’t have the time to troll through the Twitter lists or Facebook pages? Check out Gov2Social, the new service from Microsoft’s Bright Side of Government. As Bright Side’s Kristin Bockius writes: First, Gov2Social is a social media directory for state and local governments. Why is…
An example of what I mean
I thought it might be useful to provide an example of what I am talking about when I say that law enforcement agencies can do more – a lot more – with social media than they currently are. First, Joe the Cop Joe’s latest blog post concerns the beatdown of a compliant motorist by a…
Why I’m bored with social media
I’ve had something on my mind for awhile: the shiny object has lost its luster, and I’m getting bored. A year ago Amber Naslund was blogging about this: stop talking about how great it is, she wrote (I’m paraphrasing), and get to work figuring out how to use these tools. Lately I’ve read Tamar Weinberg…
There are no 10 codes in blogs
Fifteen years ago when I was a police Explorer in New Hampshire, I remember quite a debate over using 10 codes vs. plain English. 10 codes protected information from nosy reporters and civilians; plain English was less confusing for emergency responders, especially during incidents requiring multi-jurisdictional response. All are arguments coming up yet again, as…
How to keep trolls off your social sites
I’ve blogged before about comment policies and the fine line between constructive criticism and bashing/flaming. How freedom of speech isn’t just about allowing everyone to have their say, but also moderating comments to make sure that trolls’ speech doesn’t drown out other voices. But I was thinking that it’s important to understand trolls for who…