Mediaboss Marketing

ARLINGTON When officer Zhivonni McDonnell reported for a shift earlier this year, she was armed with one of the Police Departments newest tools: a smartphone equipped with Twitter.

As she accompanied a Citizens on Patrol member that night, McDonnell, the departments social media specialist, tweeted updates on what they were seeing and doing, giving followers a taste of what the volunteer group does.

Think social networking is just a frivolous time-waster for celebrities, kids and the weak-minded? Law enforcement agencies from Arlington to Zurich increasingly see Facebook, Twitter and other platforms as 21st-century ways to walk the beat, prevent crime and bust the bad guys.

The key, said Chyng-Yang Jang, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Arlingtons department of communication, is having personnel who are trained in their use.

If youre going to use it to just post information, then I dont think it will be too effective, he said. The real powerful thing is the two-way communication.

Cleveland police used it during an Amber Alert in April and received a tip within a few hours that led to the childrens rescue. In Pennsylvania, a police department made three arrests in one week off leads generated by social media. Recently, one of Dentons most-wanted misdemeanor fugitives saw his mug shot on the Police Departments Facebook page and turned himself in, hoping to keep his family and friends from finding out.

Social media is here. Its going to stay, said officer Ryan Grelle, spokesman for the Denton Police Department and one of the first in North Texas to use the tool aggressively. My captain told me, Just do it. Dont embarrass us, but do what you think we should do.

Arlington police, who have also made arrests off information distributed via social media, use the platforms to publicize good work by officers that the traditional media may not cover, to provide safety tips and to keep the community posted on emergencies like the April 3 tornado outbreak. Going to the Rangers game? Follow (at)arlingtonpd for reports on traffic and parking -- and to see whos having fun tailgating.

With 4,160 Facebook fans and 3,101 Twitter followers one day recently, the department is gaining on the top five U.S. law enforcement agencies for its size, according to the most recent numbers reported by the International Association of Chiefs of Polices Center for Social Media.

The outreach is not simply a public-relations move to control the message and put a smiley face on everybody who wears a gun and badge. If it were, said Sgt. Christopher Cook, supervisor of the departments communications team, then we would never post about murders. We wouldnt want anybody to think their community wasnt safe.

See the original post here:
Officers like social networking as tool