Social Media and Law Enforcement

US Gov’t Pro Social Media, Law Enforcement Asleep At The Wheel!

by Mike Vallez on March 29, 2010

The US Department of State has jumped into Facebook amid a growing number of federal agencies that are doing the same. Other federal agencies involved in social media are the National Security Agency, US Army, US Navy, US Coast Guard, The White House, and many others. The federal government is clearly becoming a leader in communicating their message through “social networking” sites. But is the federal government setting the standard on how to be involved in “social media?” How about from a national security perspective? There are not a lot of private national security companies for obvious reasons. However, law enforcement is in the business of national security particularly post 09/11. So why is law enforcement so slow to respond to the obvious?

The obvious is that social networking sites offer law enforcement a new way to communicate to their consumers, constituents, and others. The “others” category is a group of people who transcend the the geographical area of a law enforcement agency and consist of web users, the world wide web. Typically law enforcement only communicated to their local citizens by television, news paper, or radio, which was geographically limiting. The web allows for a much broader audience even an international audience. Additionally, it must be assumed that a certain percentage of a law enforcement agencies local constituents are also involved in social networking sites. But, why would a law enforcement agency care to broadcast information to anyone other than their local citizens?

Because prior to the “blow up” of social networking sites in the last few years the web was primarily a reference tool to gather information and was not used as much for “social” online communication. The change in culture that has occurred is epic and is not a fade. People are consuming news from Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and other websites that were not typical news outlets, but are now. We all can agree that how people are accessing information has changed. A quick stat that supports this, “more than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week” on Facebook (Facebook Statistics). It is no wonder the federal government is getting on board with social media. By setting up communication channels on social networking sites they are to reaching out to a growing number of people who are gathering information from places like Facebook and Twitter and not from newspapers or television.

Hopefully law enforcement will see the value in getting their message out through social networking sites. Be it a press release, wanted person information, missing person information, crime prevention information and so on. The US government has invested in communication through social networking sites, specifically from a national security perspective maybe law enforcement will take this cue and get involved as well. Just to be fair, not each and every law enforcement agency is oblivious to using social networking sites. There are some using social networking sites to further their communication, however, in general law enforcement has not overwhelmingly jumped into the conversation just yet. Mike Vallez

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pleaserobme.com | Post Status Updates to Twitter at Your Own Risk #safety #crime

by Mike Vallez on February 26, 2010

Neither Mashable nor pleaserobme.com are fresh on the scene with the common sense notion that criminals are just now getting active in social networking. Criminals have been using social networking sites as a form of communication in their criminal enterprises as well as a place to cultivate job leads (crime leads for those who did not understand that statement).

We are all adults here and common sense should, should tell you that there are a lot of “creepy” people on the world wide web (even if you can’t see them). Have you ever bothered to turn on the “who’s near me” or “location” function on any social networking app for your iPhone or on the computer? You will be surprised how many people pop up near you when you are online. I have done this in Tampa and thousands of people were near me and online at the same time. I guess because all of these people are on Twitter and Facebook that they are like me (law abiding citizens) and okay, WRONG!

So what, who cares who is near me! Okay, lets do some deductive reasoning. How many burglars work 9 to 5 jobs? answer 0 (valid). How many sex predators have been cured? answer 0 (valid). How many of the people viewing my location preferences could be criminals or seeking to be involved in criminal activity? answer everyone who can view your location or status update (valid). Don’t be lulled into thinking that because you cannot see a criminal that they don’t exist. You can say to yourself that “that will never happen to me,” but ladies don’t put a status update at 2:00am while at a bar and think you are safe. Being a former policeman I can tell you a rapist is looking for a “crime of opportunity” and hanging out in an entertainment district for intoxicated females is a no brainer, let alone “here I am over here” status updates.

The real bother about the pleaserobme.com website is the so called “public service” value this website is lending to the web community. They tout that what they are really doing is a public service, but from a law enforcement perspective their website offers “zero public service” usefulness. Yes, the user updates are on available on Twitter, but to RSS feed catch them into a website and head the feed category “new opportunities” and “recent empty houses” is pretty disgusting. Mashable bought into this websites intent and lauded them, or at least appeared neutral to the websites purpose. Their purpose “The goal of this website is to raise some awareness on this issue and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc. Because all this site is, is a dressed up Twitter search page. Everybody can get this information.” If everybody can get it, then why provide it to the criminal and make their criminal activities easier to research? Why name your website pleaserobme.com, which shows as #2 for “Rob Me” search parameters in Google? I can’t seem to connect the dots on this one.

Eventually a crime is going to occur and the criminal will confess that he used pleaserobme.com to commit a burglary, worse a rape, and worse yet a child’s murder. I guess pleaserobme.com will use a public relations campaign as follows: “this information already exists on the web and we in no way encourage criminal activities by posting peoples status updates on the web. The fact that a criminal used our website to cultivate a victim for a heinous crime is unfortunate.” (lawsuit) As new media unfolds opportunities to exploit others information go unchecked because there is no law designed to deal with these new issues. Personally, I feel the owners of pleaserobme.com are just trying to make a buck and they really don’t care if anyone gets hurt in the process. CM

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DailySplice Law Enforcement 2.0 Podcast | Introducing, Mike Vallez

by Mike Vallez on November 10, 2009

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Why Customer Service Reigns In Social Media

by Mike Vallez on October 24, 2009

When I started this blog, Mike’s Social Media Blog I wanted one of my first post’s to be on customer service. Well this blog has been a little neglected due to simply being to damn busy. Yes, no excuse, but putting food on the table, being a good employee to my company Altegrity, and fitting in my family (notice they are last) has been to say the least a balancing act. So I have decided to blast my customer service post out today.

Do any of you see it a little ironic that social media is reviving a sense of customer service? The companies/people who are engaging their consumers in social media and actually listening to them are bringing back a sense of customer service. If you have attended college you have heard a rant or two that the Untied States is fast becoming a “service industry” country. But, go to your local Walmart, doctor, government agency and you would all but think customer service is in the crapper. Here are a couple of real life examples of horrible customer service, which I am sure none of you have experienced (sarcasm).

Example#1-The Surgeon-My wife Lisa was having some problems with her hand and it led us to an orthopedic surgeon. Post MRI, x-ray, initial exam we were at our last appointment before surgery. My wife had an issue with one of the front office personnel at this visit before seeing the surgeon. The issue, we showed up early for our appointment and we continuously had others go before us who arrived after us. Typically not a big deal, but after 45 minutes after her scheduled appointment we began to become annoyed. My wife spoke out to a rather cranky front office person, but within 5 minutes we were in a room, problem solved right, wrong. Apparently, the surgeon was informed we were insurrectionists and he had an attitude upon entering our room, 20 minutes later. He treated my wife like an idiot, her questions were dumb and his answers were evasive. Point blank, we asked him a question about the surgery and his answer, “the pain has nothing to do with the surgery.” The why have the surgery? My wife and I left extremely dismayed that the surgeon was so uninformative and cold during this vist. Neither myself or my wife complained once during this visit.

Now, I like you would think, yes my wife or I caused this problem in the first place. Bull crap! A professional, especially a surgeon who takes an oath to treat his patients with sincerity should be able to overcome agitation (if you can call it that) and keep a good bedside manner. Remember, no matter how you slice it the customer is always right.

Example#2-Government agnecies-There seems to be an almost “carte blanche” attitude that because someone works at a service position in a government agency that they can treat you like crap. For 7 years I conducted federal background investigations and had to obtain police records from law enforcement records sections at numerous agencies. Seemed like no matter what day it was, the majority of the time (80%) most of the folks on the front end of these sections were difficult to communicate with and were resistant to doing their job. Bottom line, they appeared to have a high level of disgust for their jobs, at least from my perception. End result, they dish it back to you and I the consumer, a hard time when we go in for service.

I am not trying to be overly sensitive and, yes, I realize people have off days, bad days, yes I get it. But, I was a waiter during college and while in the police academy. My revenue during this time depended primarily on my tips. I did not receive good tips if I provided terrible service. Maybe the people in the above scenarios would provide better service if they truly received compensation from each service experience they provided.

The reality is people are tired of the bull crap and shotty service they get. They are tired of being treated like mushrooms and kept in the dark. They are tired of having products designed and produced with little to no input, then having those products shoved down their throat (car industry). People have had enough and I don’t blame them. If I am going to spend my money with a business that provides great customer service. So why do some in social media get it when it comes to “customer service?”

The basis of social media is to listen, engage, and to provide others with something of value. The irony is the web is the last place you think this positive “customer service” movement would have started. Bloggers to their credit have pushed this issue by blogging about everything. Social media customer service has blossomed from this movement. Yes, movement! There is a cultural change at foot and the change is a sense of inclusion into business models, inclusion of you and I the lowly consumer, end user, people with the money. This movement also includes law enforcement.

Law enforcement agencies like the Boca Raton PD and the Lakeland PD get it. They realize they can offer better law enforcement protection by getting their citizens involved through social media, because that is where a lot of their citizens are getting information. Instead of waiting to see if social media will last more than a couple more years these agencies are aggressively attempting to add this piece of the communication puzzle to their existing communication plans. By doing this they are providing their citizens better customer service. They are offering more, becoming more transparent, listening to their constituents, etc. These law enforcement agencies are providing a level of customer service not often seen in law enforcement (wow what a breath of fresh air).

My customer service goal is to be able to provide my wife, boss, kids, friends, acquaintances, and anyone I have contact with a great experience when dealing with them. Making them feel special, included, and important. People want that extra touch service that makes them feel special.

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