Social media in law enforcement is a growing area and one I am firmly interested in. My background as a police officer and federal investigator combined with my social media passion has naturally driven me towards this social media niche. A recent article in the Tampa Tribune/Pasco Tribune had the mention of how the Pasco County Professional Firefighters’ IAFF Local 4420 was using a YouTube video in an attempt to keep their jobs. The video they were using was from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) Since social media in law enforcement is growing I decided to go to the source for this article, the BCSO website. As I checked out the BCSO website I was quite impressed with this law enforcement agencies social media presence. As you open this website you are greeted with the same YouTube video the IAFF Local 4420 has on their website.
The presence of a YouTube video on the BCSO website immediately connects visitors to the people of the BCSO and it puts the BCSO video in front of hundreds of millions of potential viewers. The benefits for a law enforcement agency to use YouTube are very interesting to say the least. Human resources, public relations, crime prevention, criminal investigation are all areas where YouTube can be leveraged to help any law enforcement agency. As I continued to search the BCSO website I found a cool social media service called “Cyber Visor” which is an innovative but common sense solution to informing business owners and residents of Broward County of crime or security issues. I signed up for this service, which, depending on your selections will send you a text message and/or email if there is a crime, security concern, etc in your selected area in Broward County. This is a simple social media solution to help keep your citizens safe in a technologically advancing society. I returned to the front page of the BCSO website and found a link to an external blog for BCSO, which has post’s on unusual incidents, big crime busts, and yes the “Police Women of Broward County” a new TLC show. The Broward County Sheriffs Office is on the cutting edge of social media amongst law enforcement agencies, but there is so much more they could be doing with social media as I have already alluded to.
I would venture to guess that In the future you will have a social media police officer or many social media police officers that will be involved in “the conversation” it is where our society is going. Michael Vallez 08/12/09 hp5rz9ejmt
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