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 enforcement…
Category Archives: Blogging
Censorship vs. soapbox vs. call to action
A few months ago one of our Twitter law enforcement contacts, a community relations officer, tweeted that she was thinking about starting a blog for her agency. Scott replied: Portsmouth PD had tried it, but the number of negative comments forced the agency to shut it down. They couldn’t block the negative comments or else…
Blending professional and personal in Aurora (Illinois)
I recently blogged about “expert branding” and how it could help a police department’s overall mission by drawing on officers’ experience and taking some of the informational weight off the PIO’s shoulders. Around the time I was writing the post, I noticed Lt. Kristen Ziman (@Lt_KZ on Twitter) was tweeting some pretty funny stuff. I…
Social media doesn’t bring a changing of the guard
The Munhall (Pennsylvania) News Watch posted this Pittsburgh Tribune Review article recently: While police departments elsewhere turn to Web sites such as Twitter and Facebook, some local chiefs are sticking to automated phone messages as the best way to get fast alerts to many people at once. “If you want something right away, a Web…
The (not so) secret life of Officer Mitty
This week’s news out of the U.K. is disturbing on a number of different levels, but this op ed from the Guardian says it best: We hope that Detective Constable Richard Horton won’t lose his job, although he has been through what may be one of the fastest disciplinary processes in police history and been…
The new agency blog: What to say?
Starting an official department blog can be intimidating, especially for those who don’t think of themselves as “writers.” As I wrote earlier, you should consider it another form of communication – talking to the public. But what do you actually write about? Some blogs, like the LAPD’s, take the concept of newspapers’ “Police Blotter” a…