Mental illness is a hot topic in the news right now, thanks largely to mass killings, domestic violence and violence that doesn’t fit either of those narratives. While the stories help to highlight the overall topic — that mental illness is prevalent among our neighbors, coworkers and the strangers we pass each day — they…
Category Archives: Featured
Now tweeting: #copchat, the new resource for law enforcement
In the monthly column I write for Officer.com, I’ve referred to Toronto police Sgt. Tim Burrows several times. Back when I joined Twitter in late 2008, Tim was just one of the very few sworn police officers tweeting and blogging with a pioneering eye toward building a community, a virtual extension of the one he…
Blue Light Camp: In the UK, Spotlight on social media after 2011 riots
Nearly a year ago, as I caught up on tweets following my talk at the Police Leadership Conference, a series of tweets caught my eye. They came from Sasha Taylor, Chair of the National Police Web Managers Group. Sasha and I got into a good discussion about social media use in law enforcement, and although…
Victoria Police Department: Strategic planning that integrates social media
In my last post, I blogged about how public opinion—and trust—is formed according to the way police use (and communicate their use of) technology. This week’s post isn’t a direct sequel, but more of an exemplar: how one agency has implemented a strategic plan that integrates social communication. Having participated in a client’s strategic planning…
Catching up with Cops 2.0
Over the past few weeks I’ve posted a couple of articles about the police role in the Occupy movement. After my borderline hiatus from Cops 2.0 this year, you might be wondering: why come back now? After I spoke at the Police Leadership Conference in Vancouver last April, my public relations work took off (coincidentally…
Help is not a (dirty) 4 letter word
In the rush to understand all the high tech getting thrown at us on a pretty much constant basis, I think we often forget what the tech is actually for: to connect. With other human beings. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, the promise of computer technology was better efficiency. We’d be able to automate rote…