AAPD is on Twitter: Police Are Using Social Media in New and Sometimes Disturbing Ways

by Laura Entis

The Ann Arbor Police Dept. this week launched a Twitter account: @A2Police. In two days, Ann Arbor’s women and men in blue have Tweeted out three times. In the same time period, one of the seven Twitter accounts of the New York Police Dept. @NYPDNews, posted ten times that many Tweets: crime bulletins, Tweets about public safety, community outreach, Tweets and photos of officers who made arrests and of other officers who visited schools. Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton(@CommissBratton) had a Twitter account that was decidedly political and geared toward public relations (“crime is down 75%!”).

Comparing  social media use between the AAPD and NYPD is an unfair comparison, but it never hurts to see what others in the same industry are doing with their Twitter feeds. The Boulder, Colo. Police Dept. might be a more apples to apples Twitter side-by-side. The BPD (@boulderpolice) has been on Twitter since 2008. The department has around 16,000 followers and Tweets out links to the department’s call logs and blotters, among other public records.

In Berkeley, Ca., the police dept. there is not on Twitter.

Closer to home, the Detroit Police Dept. joined Twitter in 2010 and has 13,500 followers in a city of 900,000 residents. That department Tweets out public safety information, community outreach, crime bulletins and frequently includes Tweets about the Chief and his public appearances. However, the DPD (@detroitpolice) doesn’t Tweet out very frequently overall, which is a surprise given the number of crimes committed in Detroit on a daily basis and the number of calls answered.

The lesson is clear. If you want to successfully run an organization, you can’t afford to ignore social media. That’s especially true if you’re a running a police department.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest: For police departments social media is as valuable, if not more valuable, a resource than it is for traditional brands and businesses. It helps humanize the force by allowing departments to connect and converse with the general public, but more importantly, it provides a platform for police officers to share information quickly and respond to tips from civilians (who are often more forthcoming over social media than they’d be in person).

In many ways, social media and the police go together like chocolate and peanut butter. It just makes sense. A 2013 social media survey from the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that 96 percent of police departments use social media in some capacity, more than 80 percent say it has helped them solve crimes, and 73 percent of agencies said it helped improve police-community relationships in their jurisdiction.

Police departments, which already generate high levels of both emotion and controversy, are particularly susceptible to social media misfires. That’s because, at least in part, while most businesses and brands have a solid grasp on what you should and shouldn’t do on social media in a professional context, the do’s and don’ts in the context of law enforcement are less established.

Here’s a look at the recent ways police departments have used social media. How would you describe each case? (Smart? Dumb? Unethical?)

Live tweeting a sting operation

When is it appropriate to live-tweet? At the Westminster Dog Show? (Sure.) While giving birth? (Questionable.) At funeral? (Probably not.)

What about a live sting operation?

In what has to be a first, Prince George’s County Police in Maryland is planning on doing exactly that. The date and time are still unknown, but the department will be tweeting from @PGPDNews using the hashtag #PGPDVice in the near future. Appropriate?

Department spokeswoman Julie Parker told USA Today that the live-tweeting will target the men soliciting prostitutes (not the prostitute themselves); @PGPDNews will potentially tweet out specific names, charges and photos.

Why they’re doing it: “We’re hoping the advance notice we’ve provided acts as a deterrent to would-be johns who choose to engage in this illegal behavior. This is another example of our department’s commitment to transparency. We’ll give our community real-time access to the PGPD’s Vice Unit which is dedicated to shutting down this type of illicit business and seeking help for its victims,” the department wrote in a blog post.

Potential concerns:  “This seems to be a reality TV show masking as law enforcement,” Cyndee Clay, who works at a D.C. area group that assists people in the sex  work industry, told USA Today. “There’s a sensationalism there that is exciting there for people but quite frankly these are real societal issues and again these are real people’s lives we’re dealing with.”

In addition, should resources be expended live tweeting a sting, instead of being used to, you know, actually make anarrest? Is this a good use of tax-payer money? Is this a good use of social media?

Asking twitter users to post pictures of themselves with New York officers and hashtag it #myNYPD

Why they did it: To spread goodwill. The intention was clearly to circulate a stream of photos showcasing smiling officers next to smiling New Yorkers.

Reaction: Some people did exactly that.  Others, not so much: Photos of police brutality took over the hashtag (some of them truly disturbing). Despite the immediate and intense backlash, the NYPD stood by the hashtag campaign; NYPD spokesperson Deputy Chief Kim Y. Royster told The New York Times that the department was “creating new ways to communicate effectively with the community” and that Twitter provided “an open forum for an uncensored exchange” that is “good for our city.”

Using Pinterest as a lost and found:

Why they did it: Gloucester Township and Mountain View have found that the photo-based social platform allows residents to easily locate lost or stolen items that have been recovered as a result of criminal investigations or have been turned into the Department as lost property.

Before the creation of the Gloucester Township “Pinterest” website, for example, residents had to make an appointment to come to the Police Station and at the lost or found property. Now, they can surf the Pinterest board online at their own convenience.

Reaction:  Seems like a pretty ingenious way to use social media. Check out the #GTPD Recovered Property board.

Publicly firing officers over twitter: In 2013, twenty-seven officers and employees were fired from the Dallas police department; each departure was accompanied by a termination Tweet from Police Chief David O. Brown stating the name of the employee and the reason why he or she was fired.

Why he did it: Brown said his actions (fittingly, he did so in a tweet) were motivated by transparency, and a desire to “engage the public on social media.”

Reaction: Mixed, judging from our reader’s comments. While a few expressed their support for Brown’s unconventional tweets, many found them unnecessarily humiliating.

“I love to see the law enforcement community embracing change…but this seems to be something a PR/Social Media professional should have handled rather than the chief,” wrote one commentator.

And what would have happened if the information Brown tweeted out was wrong? “This policy will open many cans of worms,” wrote another commentator.