Images in police work typically bring to mind two things: crime-scene photos, and mugshots. The first are not releasable to the public. (Or at least, they should not be.) The second are, but by now they’re run-of-the-mill, Joe the Cop’s blog treatments notwithstanding. So how are images useful for social law enforcement? Take a look…
Category Archives: Reputation management
Guarding against stupid cop tricks
Every police administrator knows what damage the wrong YouTube video, tweet, or Facebook status update can do. The public seems drawn to “stupid cop tricks,” and it’s never long before the media find out. Once that happens, it’s all over. The media grill administrators for answers. Because an internal investigation is probably ongoing, there are…
Presenting to community groups? Share!
Blogging about LinkedIn last time, one thing I neglected to mention was that LinkedIn allows you to “plug in” other applications like WordPress blogs, travel itineraries, Amazon.com reading lists, and Twitter feeds. Those are pretty personal details. Unless your blog and your reading list are purely work-related, you might hesitate to plug them in to…
A starting point for professional officer development: LinkedIn
My last few posts have talked about the differences among personal, professional, and official police presences on the social Web; the need for goals and boundaries; and a little about knowing what the tools are for. I want to focus on one of those tools, in part because it is a good start for officers…
Social media presence: official, personal, and/or professional?
My last post discussed the need to differentiate personal from professional personas online. In a reply to commenter Mike Vallez later, I realized that a number of officers we know fairly well already do this: Sgt. Tim Burrows (official: @TrafficServices; unofficial: @104kdrive) Tom Le Veque (official: @APOAVoice; unofficial: @TRLeveque) Meleah Droll (official: @CoralvillePD; unofficial: @Mia_Ria)…
The cost of transparency
Those of us who applaud organizational use of social media talk a lot about “transparency.” A company or government agency that allows its employees to blog or tweet, under their own names, about their lives and jobs is said to make us trust them more. It’s humans caring about what other humans experience. What could…