In Brigantine, police officers use social media to connect with community
It’s not a new concept, but police in Brigantine are discovering how effective social media can be in building a community rapport.
Lt. Tim Reed has been using the department’s Twitter and Facebook accounts to connect with people in the small New Jersey shore town.
“For us, it’s actually helped with (finding) missing persons, missing children,” he told the Press of Atlantic City.
Not unlike Philadelphia’s tweeting officer, Joseph Murray, Reed has run into kinks along the way as he and the department determine the best way to interact with people and protect sensitive information.
While Murray’s account was temporarily suspended as the Philadelphia Police Department structured its own social media policy, Reed’s photo of a Galloway Township school bus crash was so popular, the department asked him to take it down because of the flood of media requests for permission to use the photo.
As law enforcement agencies navigate the social media waters, is there anything in particular you’d find helpful as a user?
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