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,...
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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...
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James Gunter, marketing and social media guy for CrimeReports.com, has been a Cops 2.0 fan for some time. He has backlinked to our posts in his own blog entries and tweeted our links on Twitter. So I was very pleased and flattered when he asked me to blog regularly at the CrimeReports.com blog, The...
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In my last post on standards, I quoted an email I had received from a previous commenter, H. Carvey. One of his lines stuck out at me: “Create a sense of ownership and build confidence in the standard.” When most standards come from the top down, what’s the best way for administrators to help...
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Sgt. Tom Le Veque has been a believer in social media since he started using it to reach out to the public during contract negotiations. Administration has been a bit slower to adopt, however, so Le Veque went for middle ground: a blog run by the Arcadia Police Officers’ Association. Sgt. Le Veque’s introduction...
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An interesting debate has cropped up over on ConnectedCops.net about whether police officers should be allowed to blog anonymously. It started with Lauri’s point in her post on elements of a social media policy (cross posted here and on her blog): 3. Identity. Some bloggers work anonymously, using pseudonyms or false screen names. Law...
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