Are Your Local Police on Facebook?

Ever think you’d see the day when you could “tweet” 1 Officer Jones from your cell phone and ask him for the big news in public safety today? Or make “friends” with your local police department on MySpace or Facebook 2? Well, for many citizens across the country, that day has come.

An Iowa newspaper called The Gazette online recently published an article about their local Coralville Police Department’s use of social media to connect with the community, and even to track criminals. The article highlights a recent trend in law enforcement across the country in the use of these sites, from Facebook profiles to Twitter--a “Web site allowing users to broadcast 140-character messages to an unlimited number of people, via computer or hand-held device.”

According to the article, Community Relations Officer Meleah Droll uses Twitter on a regular basis, and “tweeted” a description of a robbery suspect to her “followers,” other members of Twitter who watch her activities, to get more people on the lookout. This tactic opens up entirely new uses for social media in law enforcement.

On a larger scale, the FBI has a Facebook page and a Twitter account, and has added social media to a list of courses in media relations for state and local law enforcement.

This new way of communicating with the public is an easy method of getting information about public safety and may even constitute a global neighborhood watch if enough agencies get involved!

View the article in The Gazette here.

Is your local department connected? Look into whether your local and state law enforcement agency is a member of any social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr 3 or YouTube 4.

Perform a web search using your city’s name and the words “police department” and “social networking,” “social media,” or one of the individual sites such as Twitter or Facebook. People/organizations list through search engines in different ways, so you may need to try several combinations of search terms.

1. A “tweet” (both noun and verb) is a message on Twitter.com, a free Web site used to update others on your status via computer or mobile device.
2. MySpace and Facebook are free social networking sites previously used more by young people to make friends online and share photos, videos, music, and thoughts. Many adults are joining in, as well as businesses and other organizations, which use the sites as a free method of public relations and marketing.
3. Flickr is a free Web site used for sharing photos, and has membership profiles as well, though you can search through photos without signing up, just as you can with content on most social networking sites.
4. YouTube is a free video sharing Web site with tutorials, commercials, speeches, music videos, home videos and more posted.

Geeks On Call is committed to safety, especially children’s safety. Visit www.geeksoncall.com/guide to view our Parents’ Guide to Internet Safety for parent tips and a guide to social networking and commonly used chat/texting terms. Call 1-800-905-GEEK if you have questions or would like to schedule an appointment to set up parental controls or other Internet security measures on your computers.