As happy as I am to see so many law enforcement agencies on Twitter (450+ at last count) and Facebook, the lack of comprehensive presence—on blogs and podcasts, social-bookmarking, and other “sharing” sites—as well as the lack of personality to most of those accounts has me concerned.
I suspect many agencies are joining Twitter and Facebook because they think they “should.” This isn’t to say cops are beholden to fads like any other American. Closer to the truth, they recognize the potential for their community policing efforts. They just aren’t sure how it all comes together.
Forrester Research has an acronym that may help: POST. Private companies likewise back their way into the social space, and while their motivation for doing so is to generate “leads” for the purpose of selling things, it’s not far removed from a law enforcement agency seeking to engage its public in the name of “force multiplying”—empowering people to help prevent and solve crime.
POST: People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology
Notice the order there. Technology—the Twitters and Facebooks, and the devices used to access them—comes last. People come first. What’s tricky is that the examples writer Josh Bernoff uses, college students and business travelers, are two small slices of a much larger “public” pie. No law enforcement agency has the resources to deal with all the platforms its publics use.
Instead of getting bogged down by this idea, though, remember: right now, the focus is the people. That means researching, certainly, but not doing. Not yet. So by all means, figure out where the college students and business travelers gravitate, along with the small business owners, the moms and dads, the tweens, and all the other demographic groups in your community.
Next: objectives. For a law enforcement agency, this might mean something like build trust with youth or increase tips by 20% in the next three years. This could be where a principle like problem-oriented policing comes in; if problems exist in the community, setting objectives is the way to address them.
Strategy is people + objectives. Good problem-oriented policing takes into account the people who can solve the problem most effectively. Examples include Chicago’s Cease Fire program and Boston’s Ten Points Coalition. As Bernoff points out, strategy is all about how things will be different when you’re done.
Finally, technology. Says Bernoff, succinctly: “A community. A wiki. A blog or a hundred blogs. Once you know your people, objectives, and strategy, then you can decide with confidence.”
This is, incidentally, the kind of plan you can see at work in programs like Boca VIPER, which incorporates multiple channels both traditional and social, and clearly communicates its objectives along with its strategy to its publics.
And even if you lack the resources to implement a comprehensive plan like VIPER, at least rethink that plan to go on Twitter and Facebook. Take a few steps back and look at your agency, your community; their needs and yours. You may find more value in a blog or podcast, or in focusing on a specific group that seems to need particular online attention.
How can you apply POST to your community policing efforts? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.
Christa M. Miller is founder and co-author of Cops 2.0. A freelance trade journalist turned content creator and public relations strategist, she has specialized in public safety issues for the past eight years. She resides in Greenville, SC and can be reached at christammiller@gmail.com.
Get on the National Crime Map at CrimeReports.com
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Very useful info in this post. Additionally, the use of an acronym is often key to delivering info successfully to LE and other public safety audiences.
Thanks, Emily. Good point — public safety folks do like their acronyms, don’t they?
I think, though, as long as they are clearly defined. If you were to talk POST to officers in California or other states that use Peace Officer Standards & Training, that could get confusing!