Regular readers might remember Sgt. Tom Le Veque from my interview with him in August, which detailed how he carefully researched his community before setting up a social media presence on behalf of the Arcadia (CA) Police Officers’ Association. Recently, Sgt. Le Veque attended a 140 Characters Conference in Los Angeles. There, three police chiefs…
Tag Archive: Crime prevention
Can social media help guard against vigilantism?
This week, the Stockton (Calif.) city council approved a budget that will lay off 55 police officers. If you recall, Stockton was the city where—when the likelihood of a significant number of layoffs was announced in April—an armed militia announced plans to “activate” should this actually occur. City officials, as Stockton resident and activist Bill…
In Fairfield, California, My #1 Friend is a Cop
More police departments are starting to develop presences in social network spaces. They ask for help locating suspects, tell community members about department-sponsored events, and interact via comments and messages. They may also drive traffic to a main Web site or warn citizens of nearby emergencies. Many of these pages resemble the “cop on the…
Web 2.0 and Community Policing
One of the “buzz words” for police agencies, before 09-11-01, was Community Policing. For years, using those words in just about any grant request was almost guaranteed to get some state or federal money flowing into the police department. More recently, Community Policing has taken second seat to Homeland Security however. What exactly is this…
Webcams: the new Crime Watch
In an editorial for the Savannah Morning News, Police Chief Michael Berkow wrote: We have a community problem here in Savannah. It’s called Armed Robbery…. Your police department cannot solve this problem alone; we need to attack this as a community…. But we need everyone’s help: from parents talking to their kids; to the schools;…