Several police departments south of Boston have amped up their social media presence, according an article in The Boston Globe Sunday.
Twitter and Facebook are the two social media sites that police departments are using the most, according to The Globe.
Officers will post photos or video of suspects, issue alerts or respond to editorials via those sites.
Moreover, citizens curious about elevated police presence in their neighborhood can check their department’s Twitter or Facebook page for more information, bringing the police scanner into the 21st century, in a way. This is incredibly useful to people who lack the time or motivation to walk over to their police department and check the logs.
There are other benefits to police departments’ increased online presence.
Frequent online commentary between citizens and officers increases police transparency. Increased transparency can lead to better working relations between officers and citizens.
Increased social media usage will also create job opportunities for young people. Most millennials have a strong grasp of social media and can bring their skills into those departments.
Detailed, online posts about police situations are also useful to reporters. A comprehensive tweet or Facebook post may help reporters inform their audience about a situation before an interview with a sergeant can be secured.
However, every company or organization can only be so transparent.
It will be interesting to see what happens when a police department that promotes transparency isn’t transparent about certain things, like internal strife.
Looking forward, will other police departments jump on the social media bandwagon? When there are so many benefits: increased transparency, jobs opportunities, why not?
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