Smile 4

Panel of Chiefs. Rick Clark from Galaxy police Chris Perkins Roanoke and Bryan Norwood Richmond police.
Discussion is Strategy
In 2008 no roadmap and had to work it out theirselves. Used it to humanise police officers
Use of FB to detect crime and identify offenders etc.
Issues around what the policy should be, who should make posts etc, need to ask people to be responsible.
Not a strict policy but realistic.
Think and act positively.
Citizen contact survey 81percent using FB site of police.
Community has already embraced it. Media following our stories. Expectations of public being met.
Lots of positive comments from the public. Especially when there is a success eg an arrest or prevention exercise.
We usually only hear from 1% of our population and often negative. What about the other 99%. SM gives them a voice.
People are very positive about finding out what we are doing.
SM is about telling our own story. Often we have to defend ourselves in media. SM allows us to tell it our way and provide the info people want and need.
People will understand better what where why and how of policing
Lets people have a connection with the cop that they wouldn't otherwise have eg what football team they follow.
Goals for the future
Can do vignettes of officers on video and promote what we do and what we need people to do to help us
How do you handle negative comments
Don't hide from them.
What is the return on investment from SM
Level of trust in staff. Daily interactions. Number of people who like. Our openness and level of support. Well of goodwill.
Building a sense of community amongst our citizens.
Will dispatchers have to monitor SM. That day is coming. In Richmond there are 4 universities and that's how students communicate.
Most surprising interaction. I was able to answer directly. People so better informed about what we do.
Finding out things that we didn't know.
Ability to respond directly to people
Recruits using SM as a norm.
Good use of FB by Richmond PD to link to public and let them know what policing is about
Getting people immersed in a team eg football supporters talking about We. Getting that same sort of following for policing. Really good analogy
Very positive contributions from 3 Chiefs of Virginia. Real ambassadors to open policing and police use of Social Media