In the past 18 months I’ve been so eager to “prove” what social media can do for law enforcement that I’ve pushed agencies and their commanders to be more transparent, more engaged with the public, more a part of the online world. I still believe they should be. But I’m also coming to embrace temperance….
Author Archives: Christa Miller
What budget cuts mean to online public safety
In April, the Wall Street Journal highlighted law enforcement budget cuts and what they meant for public safety: Since January, Tulsa has laid off 89 police officers, 11% of its force. That has pushed the city to the forefront of a national movement, spurred by hard times, to revamp long-held policing strategies. In the crosshairs:…
In a crisis, communicate short-term for long-term goodwill
An iPhone prototype lost, found, and then sold. A police raid on the home of the blogger who broke the story. In a public relations crisis that is largely eclipsed by the much bigger issues of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and Wall Street fraud, the Silicon Valley-based Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT)…
Gov2Social: Agencies’ new one stop shop
Researching social media use by other police departments – but don’t have the time to troll through the Twitter lists or Facebook pages? Check out Gov2Social, the new service from Microsoft’s Bright Side of Government. As Bright Side’s Kristin Bockius writes: First, Gov2Social is a social media directory for state and local governments. Why is…
An example of what I mean
I thought it might be useful to provide an example of what I am talking about when I say that law enforcement agencies can do more – a lot more – with social media than they currently are. First, Joe the Cop Joe’s latest blog post concerns the beatdown of a compliant motorist by a…
Why I’m bored with social media
I’ve had something on my mind for awhile: the shiny object has lost its luster, and I’m getting bored. A year ago Amber Naslund was blogging about this: stop talking about how great it is, she wrote (I’m paraphrasing), and get to work figuring out how to use these tools. Lately I’ve read Tamar Weinberg…