It will be linked in the sidebar as well as in this post so that you can find it easily anytime you want. Meanwhile, we’d love to hear your feedback — please be sure to leave us a comment!

Survey of Official & Unofficial Law Enforcement Twitter Accounts in Canada, the United Kingdom, & the Unite…

What comes to mind when you think of COPS?  (Cue the “Bad Boys, Bad Boys” Music)

Do you see images of your last call, your friends around the guardroom, the motors, horses or cars?  Maybe its the image of a crash scene and the jobs we do.  Perhaps, you have your own images set in the still frames of your memories that made you want to do the best job in the world.

Chances are though, if I ask that question of people outside the Law Enforcement family, the images that they see are John McClane running through the Dulles Airport or the Nakatomi Plaza.  They could be seeing Det. Alonzo Harris telling Jake Hoyt that, “God Willing…” How about the bumbling but loveable, one bullet Barney Fife or the incompetent Rosco P. Coltrain.

So what’s the difference between what we see in our minds and what the public sees in theirs?

Branding.  Plain and simple. Branding can be an image, icon, trademark or how a company/person portrays themselves in the light they wish to be seen.

Hollywood has done an amazing job of branding Law Enforcement in an image that they know will make money.  Corrupt, lawless, renegade, foolish, frenzied or impossibly heroic.  Can you imagine a gun battle like the one that took place in Heat? OK, maybe a bad example (remember the North Hollywood shoot-out).  Still, you get the point.  What happens in real life rarely gets the attention of film makers.

Social Media is a tool that allows us to take control of our own branding.  It can allow us to create the image that we wantportrayed.  We have everyday stories that may not garner international media attention, but are very important to your community and your officers.  You can be building a great following within your chosen platforms of Social Media and push out great stories about what your officers are doing, the lives they are having a positive effect on and build the brand that you want to be viewed in.

Sure, you may not want to show your Detective Office in the deep and dark world of paperwork; but showing the reality of crime solving and the “real world” may give your community a greater of appreciation of what goes into catching the bad guys and making a community safer.

Sure, many of these stories that you put out might not even get your local media interest, but your community and your following sure will.  It could be a slow news day and your story does get grabbed and makes a Hero out of one of your officers.

Social Media allows you to create your own brand virtually for free. Time and personnel are your biggest investments.  When the public does or says something that goes against your brand, you could already have a message, video or article that cuts off any negative aspects and returns the thought to your choice of brand image.

There are many examples of agencies that are out there doing a great job of branding themselves and are enjoying the benefits of a strong community reputation and image that doesn’t include the Hollywood spin.

Let us know if you are, or your find an exceptional example of what we’re talking about.  I’ll give you two of my fav’s to take a look at.  Boca Raton Police – “VIPER” and the Houston Police Department’s Facebook page.

I doubt David Copperfield would take all the credit for changing working practices in English and Welsh police forces but he did achieve a lot. For example now Neighbourhood Policing staff in Surrey are challenged to spend over 80% of their time out on patrol (would David say – out of the office/at a brew stop?) and the Surrey Policing Pledge puts the priorities of our citizens before targets.

But this original police blog, pulling no punches to report the wasted effort in policing, did challenge the system and the controversy he courted was aired in parliament in 2006.

Having been invited to discuss policing in newsprint, on radio, with politicians and having written a book ‘Wasting Police Time’ the vocal constable was ‘outed’ in the media. However whilst David subsequently moved to Canada his legacy remains in England. What would he make of policing pledges and the search for public confidence and satisfaction entwined in partnership policing and with policing teams co-located with their local council counterparts?

David Copperfield’s last foray into newsprint was in July 2010 when he was published in the Sunday Telegraph evidencing the benefits of the Canadian policing model.

Why do I write this tribute? Well I think PC Copperfield’s use of this medium has added a new dimension to policing and without this officer’s blog I doubt I would even consider writing these words for you now. And if the man himself reads this – thank you for replying to my email years ago and no, I never thought you were in the Met!

• Nearly 3 in 4 participate in at least one online community or social network
• 89% of respondents aged 18‐34 use online communities or social networks compared to 65% of those aged 35 and older.
• One in six (16%) have used social media to get information about an emergency
• About half of respondents would sign up for emails, text  alerts, or applications to receive any of the emergency information.
• About half of respondents about 72% would mention any of the emergencies or events on their social media channels.
• Facebook was the most commonly used channel for posting eyewitness information on an emergency or newsworthy event.
• 39% said if 911 was busy they would contact police via 42% cellphone and 18% digital media.
• More than half would send a text message 52%  and 44% to digital media (SM) to an
• available response agency if someone they knew needed help.
• During an emergency, nearly half would use social media to let loved ones know they are safe.
• The vast majority would use Facebook to post information about their safety.
• More than two-thirds 69% agree that response agencies should regularly monitor and respond to postings on their websites.
• Younger respondents are more likely to mention emergencies on social media -57% would mention a car crash, 56% would mention a “potential crime”.
• Younger people are more likely to request help through social media or text messaging – 44% via Twitter, 49% on an agencies Facebook page and 66% would sent a text message to an agency if it were available in their region.

All respondents 18% regardless of age would try and use social digital media to ask for help in an emergency, if they could not reach 911.

**Online Survey of 1,058 respondents representative of the US population aged 18 and

older, conducted by Infogroup | ORC on July 22‐23, 2010.

Report Date:  August 5, 2010

Cops2.0 friends and crisis response colleagues will presenting at the @RedCross event that will be discussing social media and crisis response at their conference in Washington, DC. Please tune in by following the Twitter hashtag #datacrisis on August 12th, 2010.

For a highlight copy of the report see the link below.

http://www.redcross.org/www-files/Documents/pdf/other/SocialMediaSlideDeck.pdf

For the white paper see the link below.

Also, have a look below at this Tweet discussion between @BostonPolice & Alex Howard @digiphile a correspondent with @OReillyMedia.

There is now also available via CSPAN a video of the #RedCross Crisis summit presentations here:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/295025-1

This is an interesting and timely topic and the study above does indicate that text to 911 would be utilized. What are some of your thoughts on this? Let us know what you think and share your cases studies and opinions on this..

Did you hear the one about the 18-year-old bragger, good old-fashioned police work and a Social Network? No, it’s not a joke, but there is a great punch line.  It’s a true story and a great example of what can happen when you combine the three.

First the social network:

On March 16, 2010 at 11:35am “bmw550ifreak” created a post on a popular BMW Forum titled “Going 140 km/h on a 40 zone”. What happened after that can best be described as…priceless.  I have read nearly every post in the 26 pages that were created as a result of his topic and it just kept getting better.

I’m not quite sure what this kid was going for when he made the post but I know what he found.

1.)   A very unreceptive crowd

2.)   A concerned citizen

3.)   A street smart cop

4.)   The inside of a courtroom

It has been said many times that what happens on Social Media stays on; YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. That statement is solidified by this case.

Enter the cop:

On April 14, 2010 at 3:09 pm, Sgt Morash of the York Regional Police Service made her own post on the forum:

“Any witnesses that wish to come forward on Apple Blossom Drive, Vaughan about the dangerous operation of 2006 BMW M5S please contact Sergeant Morash, of York Regional Police, Community Response Unit at 581@yrp.ca”

A concerned citizen from the United States, who saw the topic post in the forum, sent a letter (by snail-mail) to the police letting them know what was being said.  Sgt. Morash decided to go where the people were and listened to what they had to say.  Once there she made her own post.  Needless to say, our “bmw550ifreak” may have been a little surprised.  His first response was, “um”.  Followed by several valiant attempts at back-pedalling.

But, as it stood this information would never make it to court on it’s own.  It would be very easy for an accused to argue several different defenses, which would all be considered cause for reasonable doubt.  “I was only joking, I lied, that’s not me who posted it”.  Not to mention the obvious…putting the driver behind the wheel and attaching him to the post.

Finally, good old-fashioned police work:

Sgt Morash and her team went to the location of the alleged offence and canvassed for witnesses.  Low and behold…there were witnesses to be found that were more than willing to talk to the police.  One of the great things that made this case simple from a computer standpoint was because of the leg work in combination with the witness assistance there was no need for the sometimes painstaking matter of capturing the suspects IP address and serving the ISP for court information.

In the end, On Thursday, August 5, 2010, Vladimir RIGENCO, 19, of Vaughan, was sentenced to a six months driving prohibition and 12 months probation after he entered a guilty plea to Careless Driving under the Highway Traffic Act. He was also ordered to complete a remedial driving program and pay a $1,000 fine within six months.  (See the news release where this paragraph came from)

The use of Social Media by police is becoming very well documented. From emergency communications that are fast, community safety messages that are direct to witness sourcing of events, the uses continue to expand and solidify the reasons why Law Enforcement should be aware of and engaged in the use of Social Media and Social Networking.  This case would have never stood on it’s own based solely on the forum post.  Nor would have it ever come to light without the citizen bringing it to the attention of the police.

Finally, lets not forget about the punch line; The true beauty of Social Mediums and the Internet, “What happens on the internet…stays everywhere. (That should be a warning to you as well.)

~~~

Do you have a Chief or Administrator that is resistant to the use of Social Media / Social Networking? This is an excellent example to help with your argument to take your agency into the world of 2.0. Community/Police/Investigation/Conviction all in one place.  Do you have an example of a similar use of technology coupled with great investigative work?  Let us know, feel free to comment and share. Thanks

Central to Toronto Police Services’ success: careful planning and execution before, during, and even after the summit. Cops 2.0 authors Laura Madison and Christa Miller talked with three people heavily involved in these activities – Marco Battilana, Constable Wendy Drummond, and Sgt. Tim Burrows.

Planning: People

During the G20, the Public Information Unit (PIU)‘s normal approach to communication – one Burrows calls “multi-pronged,” involving both internal and external public relations – changed.

“A multi member team made up of representatives from the Integrated Security Unit (ISU) Partners and many police services across Ontario formed the information team,” says Burrows. “We all worked together across mainstream and social media venues to bring up to date information to all members of our communities.”

The TPS officers’ roles did not change by much. Although all can use social media in the course of their duties, only two – Burrows and Constable Scott Mills – focus their energy on its use. (Burrows, who works with the Traffic Services Unit, describes his role as “parallel” to the PIU.)

“Scott Mills has been identified as the Social Media Officer for the Service and he works in the PIU offices with the other Media Relations and Public Information Officers,” Burrows says. During the G20, Burrows and Mills were assigned social media tasks, each officer working a 12-hour shift so that the TPS could provide 24-hour coverage and monitoring of social media platforms.

Likewise, the other officers generally stuck with their usual tasks. For example, Drummond says her role as media relations officer makes her more hands-on: “responsible for liaising with the media on a daily basis, providing updates on current investigations, and creating public safety alerts to ensure the public is armed with information to which they can adjust their own actions and decisions.”

But because the TPS was part of a much larger ISU, these roles still needed the guidance of someone skilled in directing large-scale public communications efforts. That fell to Marco Battilana, a web communication strategist with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) E Division. In that role for about two years, Battilana had been called to Vancouver to assist the ISU in charge of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Overseer of both internet and intranet environments, he had developed the V2010 ISU website and social media presences from scratch, maintained the intranet site, and monitored and reported on each environment’s analytics, along with other duties. These duties were similar to what he does for the RCMP E Division, where he also trains media relations officers on content management.

The experience led to his being called on for the Toronto ISU. “With V2010 ISU, I already had an idea of what types of social media personas there would be: Supportive Government Partners, Anti-Establishment, enthusiasts, media, etc.

“Even before 2010, I had already been monitoring Beijing 2008’s social media efforts and was formulating how to improve. Having an idea of the different personas definitely helped me with planning my G8 / G20 experience and how the G8 / G20 ISU Public Affairs Communications Team (PACT) could have a positive influence for all involved.”

Battilana’s role, then, was not so much one of authority as one of guidance. “We all did the same social media monitoring when it came to the duties at the time,” he explains. “I merely gave my suggestions based on my expertise and experience.

“The other members had already established the social media monitoring and it was working very well. I simply wanted to take it one step further and be truly interactive with the public: [to achieve] two-way communication between the G8 / G20 ISU and the public and/or media.

“Scott and Tim were a great asset as they had already been living and breathing this. Their Twitter and Facebook accounts were already doing what I thought the G8 / G20 ISU should be doing, so it simply solidified the success of what was to come.”

Planning: The Event

The G20 was, perhaps not coincidentally, planned to immediately follow the G8 summit. However, says Drummond, while the city had plenty of time to plan for the G8, police were only notified of the G20 plans in February 2010.

“With not as much time to prepare as there was for the G8, planning went into full speed ahead,” she says. “Communications was key, and working with the communities that were going to be affected directly as a result of their proximity to the Metro Convention Centre, was paramount.

Despite TPS’ documented success with social media use, the ISU had little to draw on in terms of other G20 responders’ experiences. Nevertheless, says Drummond, “We knew that we were going to have to reach thousands of people to deliver several messages prior to and during the summits, and that is where social media assisted our Public Affairs Communications Team.”

This, she adds, ended up being one of the few things about back-to-back summits that was not costly and challenging. “Through the use of social media, we were able to communicate effectively out of one location, and social media, as you know, can be done anywhere, at anytime, reaching a large number of people, all at once.”

Exercises are important to planning for emergency or other critical situations. Historically, they include traditional media (including misinformation) and other elements that make for a scenario that is as accurate as possible.

However, while G20 exercises mentioned social media, practical exercises were not included. “This is a type of training that could be used to effectively answer questions to unforeseen problems and train officers to recognize the best practices to dealing with issues that could come up during real events,” Burrows acknowledges.

On the other hand, says Drummond, many elements of communication during the G20 were unexpected. “Being able to respond to questions and inform people as to what to expect is a lot different then dealing with public reaction and criticism,” she explains.

“Some of the messaging that we expected to be an issue with the public was not, and other issues felt to be moot became daily topics! Such as the removal of small trees to allow for the helicopter to land.”

Battilana, at the time still involved with the V2010, could not directly participate in the pre-event planning. Still, he says, “The PACT communication plan initially mirrored the V2010 ISU social media plan. When I arrived, I made some suggestions for monitoring. Tweetdeck was currently being used by the social media team, which worked. I suggested also using Hootsuite as a primary monitoring tool, which we did with great success. Facebook to Twitter was also utilized.”

While the use of these tools was so successful that Battilana says he would continue in the same vein, he cautions against overdependence on them. “What’s more important is keep on top of what tools are being used at the time. Who knows what will be around in five years. The key is to stay aware.”

Addressing violence and public anxiety

Protestor violence in other cities meant that in Toronto, messaging would have to take high emotions into account. “Social media was known to have been in use by protestors, both peaceful and not in previous summits,” says Burrows, “so its use was recognized as a valuable communication tool from the very beginning. [We used it] to monitor protest movements, inform and educate the public and to answer concerns and questions.”

One key example: “A couple of weeks prior to the G20, the ISU held a Technical Briefing, putting on display the many specialized units and equipment that was expected to be used, including the controversial LRAD [Long Range Acoustic Device],” says Drummond.

“This briefing was very beneficial as it somewhat set the stage for what people could expect to see, and really, be able to get their heads around the fact that there was gong to be such a large increase of police presence on the streets of Toronto.”

Burrows adds: “The information we gave to the public about the LRAD was designed to show how it is a very effective communication tool in times of mass gatherings where clear communication is so important.”

“This generated much discussion and talk on social media sites,” says Drummond. “We posted a lot of video explaining the duties and responsibilities of the different units, and the function of LRAD. This also in turn allowed the public to express their concerns and distrust in the use of the LRAD.”

Which, says Burrows, there was plenty of. “The public was very concerned about the use of the LRAD from what they saw at the Pittsburgh G20 summit. The ISU was intent on letting the public know that we were going to use it for communication and not as a weapon. Our plans never varied and as people understood the use of the tool and how the ISU was to use it, the fear was truly unfounded.”

Ultimately, says Drummond, planning for social media use need not be complicated. “As a law enforcement agency we fall within the realm of public safety and are required to abide by certain guidelines and requirements, but the forum in which the information is delivered is unique and needs to be specific to address individual audiences in order to maximize the effectiveness of the communications,” she explains.

For example, Battilana adds, says Police Services’ emphasis on two-way social media communication was much more developed than it had been for V2010. “The response was something that I wanted to see happen just like how the PACT would release media lines,” he explains. “We’d have the same vetting, approval and release, except not as verbose. Really though, it all comes down to effective communication. And that’s what the PACT was wanting to achieve with SM, and I believe that is what we all did.”

Social Media During the G20

Social tools were not only valuable as communications modes. They also proved critical for intelligence-gathering and investigations. “Being able to provide information confidentially to police through different social media sites has increased the amount of tips received,” says Drummond.

“On the flip side to that, people have a tendency to have tunnel vision when posting things on sites, feeling faceless and untraceable. It is with those postings that we were able to use our talent and use the information posted to our advantage. It allowed our officers to monitor public sites that protestors were using to share information.”

Battilana adds, “The tips that came in before and during [the summits] were hit or miss. Some were factual and some were not. We still managed to follow up on all the information we received.

“It definitely became more of a challenge for the PACT the closer to the summit we got. As the summit was more on the public’s mind, we’d end up with more and more social media activity. Hence, we really had to focus on disseminating the incoming information.”

How physical locations impacted communication

Two complicating factors: first, PACT staff were not all located in Toronto; they were also posted in the Ontario cities of Barrie and Huntsville. Second, Drummond notes that with regard to Huntsville and Toronto particularly, communications had to take into account very different demographics.

“Toronto, being a very urban setting, the majority of the population is tech savvy and the use of social media is much more prevalent,” she explains. “Huntsville, however, is a smaller town, where the population is older and reliant on traditional forms of media such as TV, radio and print.”

To deal with such disparate modes of communication, police went slightly lower tech: the telephone. “We had two phone numbers, one for the media and one for the public,” says Drummond. These calls came into Toronto, where the phones were manned 24 hours. “The responses were coordinated with PACT members in Barrie to maintain continuity with responses given by Toronto media officers and those posted in Huntsville.”

Burrows was one of the officers posted to Toronto. “The call volume was extremely heavy during the summits but during the G20 in particular,” he says. “While maintaining the continuity with a mass team will always be a challenge, our call centre supervisors held regular briefings and we were in constant contact with the ISU communications team leadership to ensure that we were all on the same page at all times.”

Managing communications breakdowns

Drummond says the most frustrating part of her experience involved breakdowns in communication. “Being in a position were you speak on behalf of the ISU is one that comes with the expectation of perfection, which is far from ever happening,” she explains. “No matter how you deliver some information, it will always be scrutinized and twisted.

“The amount to which you are able to control and rectify this, and continue to deliver the message that you want to be heard, is the challenge. Something that I learned very quickly in all of the G20 was how fast people post information, regardless of whether it had been verified or not. You may end up spending a lot of time correcting such postings!”

Roundtable discussions ensured message accuracy, and also helped communicators anticipate questions “to minimize the surprise moments,” says Burrows. “Accuracy always has to win out over immediacy. There is no problem verifying what live media may be showing. It’s obvious by the pictures what is happening.

“The danger is when the media or the public leads the information stream and looks for verification on their perspective, as opposed to deterring the facts and providing the most accurate information from the voices of authority.”

Drummond says that this is an opportunity for an aspect of the job that is most rewarding: “Being misquoted or having your comments be taken out of context is a great place for social media to step in. When you have written something and posted it publicly reduced the ability to alter your message.”

The worth of social media during large-scale events

Battilana agrees. “In my opinion, I think the PACT definitely achieved our objective of effective communications, in relation to a social media perspective. As more news agencies started to continuously follow us via social media as the summit drew near, we were able to have more of an influence on what the media were portraying.

“An example being people tweeting that the security fence was breached at a specific location, which then showed up on a certain news channel. Once we looked up the location referenced in the tweet, we realized that the location didn’t even have a security fence present. So, we tweeted that there was no fence breach occurring, as there was no fence at that location, and the news updated their report.”

This, Battilana adds, typifies how social media proved its worth. “I’ve seen people try to quantify the exact return on investment of social media when planning, and I believe this is why some people don’t believe in its influence,” he says.

“If we could achieve these types of results in regards to the G8 /G20 and what the mainstream media was reporting on in the matter of a week, just imagine what continued success we could have in the future. All it takes is someone with the courage and vision to see the true benefits of social media and to have the right people execute the plan accordingly.”

Drummond agrees. “Having a well established following, experienced and knowledgeable communicators, and a Service that recognizes the value in social media and its importance was key to the success of social media during the summits of 2010,” she says.

“Without the experience and following that both Tim and Scott have as figures in law enforcement, I don’t think we would have been as successful in reaching so many people and engaging them in dialogue or just making people aware of preparations and planning.”

To these thoughts adds Burrows: “One important point to remember is that there will always be members of society that don’t agree with anything that law enforcement does. That becomes intensified and multiplied with political events.

“It is paramount to recognize that you will never be able to appease everyone. The difference between five years ago and today is that social media have made it possible for those people to gather together on line and increase their voice and their position. Law enforcement must do the same, work together, increase our voice and always present the truth with accuracy and transparency.”

photo credit: steelerdan

photo credit: steelerdan

photo credit: PastePie

photo credit: OMouse

photo credit: Aramil Liadon

photo credit: Subterranean Tourist Board

Courtesy Social 2B

I am not a fan at all of people, organizations or companies that think they should use Social Media as their communications strategy.  Social Media is a communications tool, plain and simple.  I’m sure that you don’t have a policy or procedure on the use of a fax machine as your communications strategy.

Every business or organization that uses Social Media as a form of communication needs to understand and recognize that it should be part of your greater communications strategy and a tool to advance your overall strategy to engage your community, customers, clients, etc.  This includes Law Enforcement.

Having said all that, you do need to determine what platforms you are going to use in Social Media and what your intent is for using them.  Since one of the major resources you will commit to Social Media use is time, you have to have clear direction and intent so that you maximize the benefit.

You need to decide if you are going to be fully engaged with any feedback that comes in or if you will pick and chose to respond, or if you will have two way communication at all. (If that is your choice, you are missing the point of Social Media).

Will you allow uncensored open dialogue, or will you put in place a mechanism for vetting comments that are defamatory or hateful in nature?

Beyond conversation, you need to define what your purpose is.  Are you going to concentrate on community safety, crime prevention, traffic awareness, education?  Or are you going to promote your service as a great employer, pillar of your community and trusted source for information?

Without some defined direction you could end up spinning your wheels throwing tons of information at a well-intentioned Facebook page but having very little traction because it is so scattered.  You could be so busy monitoring conversations that you miss content.

The easiest way to define your strategy is to look no further than your agencies mission statement, values and vision. Design your strategy around those.  Make sure that Social Media and how you intend to use it fits into your agencies overall communication strategy.

When I went down the road of Social Media, I looked at the platforms, the tools and took the plunge, but it was always with a clear strategy in mind.  The Missions Statement of the Toronto Police Service ends with the line, “…partnership with our communities to keep Toronto the best and safest place to be.”  Traffic Services Mandate is to make traffic in Toronto safer and better (paraphrased).

Every tweet, status update, video favorite, blog post, etc is always geared to the strategy of finding ways to meet that goal, which is governed by the mandate and mission.

The Social Media strategy is to compliment the overall communications strategy.

So tell us what your strategy is. Do you have one? Do you shoot it all against the wall and hope some will stick? We would love to hear your feedback.

However, the essential part missing from Jim Gambles positioning is the Facebook data. The cases that end in a homicide while very disturbing are relatively rare occurrences but some bigger questions remain about Facebook’s policies and lack of information sharing. Facebook data is available for usage statistics but i have yet to locate anything released from the company itself related to safety and complaints on their platform. Let’s ask ourselves this; Where is the open data from Facebook that allows child protection advocates, police IT experts and caring citizens to view exactly just how many reports of inappropriate contact made their way to the through the Facebook abuse reporting system? Also, where is the transparency in data availability so that professionals can gage the true scope of the ongoing problem in order to assist with intelligent solutions?

As an example of moving in the right direction with regards to the release of platform data to their users, I noticed that Google released in April of this year six months worth of data that illustrated the amount of “requests from authorities” that had been made to remove content from its servers or provide information about users of their services or products. Challenging Mark Zuckerberg and his company Facebook to do the same Is worth a mention. After all brand management and PR is secondary to responsible internet citizenship, right?  I would request Mr Zuckerberg to take it one step further and categorize the data requests by law enforcement and also, and importantly so release data about user complaints based on the nature of the complaints.

Sarah Perez wrote in a recent write up at Read Write Web that “Facebook will also promote the button to it’s youngest users by way of prominent advertisements” That’s fine for Facebook and kudos to them for advertising on their own networks something that is not their own internal solution to the issue. Think of this; what if that button becomes the beacon and predators will only look for those without the button? You see we know that certain types of sexual deviants have high recidivism rates, that is to say that once they perpetrate a sexual crime that it is likely to be followed by same according to reams of well conduced research in this area. Sexual offenders have been shown to be highly skilled in their adaptations in order to continue offending, are we thus helping them avoid detection by the highly visible button as well? Could the discussion have been had about “hiding the button” on profiles but have them available to the users?

Here are some questions or thoughts I considered and jotted down when I first heard about the Facebook panic button and thought it would be a part of their system, lets see if with this new CEOP application if any of these points still apply:

1) Targeting profile behavior rather then by name and photo will assist in getting around the problem of Fake accounts created by serial predators.

2) Facebook may not wish to install alert system for younger people directly on their system due to legal concerns with the potential for insufficient backend policing of the reports.  Would this flow be properly and maintained in a timely fashion?  Predator->User->button->FB system/comms->Police? Here is a Scenario, child presses Facebook button but the Facebook system is slow, not responsive, not well designed, staff lose track and are not trained to recognize imminent threats and teen is contacted and murdered by another user, who is liable?

3) Alert tools are only as good as the Facebook communications with police are. I would like to hear back from law enforcement officials on their comparative experiences when asking certain social media platforms for information or if they do receive and how many unsolicited reports from Facebook or other platforms regarding potential threats?

4) Remembering the cautionary tale about putting the safety of kids in a large corporations hands.  Facebook is only as effective as their ability to ascertain risk and for their system to respond to such threats. There is no doubt that parents will always be the first line of defense.

I do also wonder if having the external button application will mean Facebook will still continue to monitor serious concerns by teens in the UK or if it will all go to CEOP by way of manual reports? Do they have an agreement here or is it only via the new application tab? I am waiting to hear back from CEOP on this question and will post what i find out for our readers.

With all of this said not knowing the scope of the problem on Facebook related to grooming and predator behavior due to lack of data releases by Facebook keeps me asking the harder questions. I do of course hope the CEOP button will be a successful mechanism to assist in protecting children and teens in the UK but do ask that people continue teaching their children about the online risks and to not allow technology to “babysit” our  precious children.

I still believe they should be. But I’m also coming to embrace temperance. The cultural shifts required for police to “socialize” online are as huge as they were 20 years ago, when community policing concepts first demanded them.

And just as it took time, baby steps really, for many agencies to embrace community policing… the same will be true for online community policing. How so? I could not have answered that until I found this the other day:

Here, the Community Roundtable explains how social presence isn’t created overnight. It takes time to plan, build, and establish. Its blog post explains the concept of “community maturity” in greater detail, along with some ways the organization uses the model.

You’ll notice that the model was drawn with a focus on internal community. The police department moving towards acceptance of social strategy will start, as most organizations, at the familiarity of “Hierarchy” – then as it grows more comfortable with its own agency’s community, will move along the continuum to “Network.”

This is true externally as well, however. Because police naturally relate to their publics as a hierarchy, the online application of community policing – requiring more trust, communication and interaction – will take time to grow.

The agency may move along the continuum at about the same time externally as internally, or they may be slightly ahead internally – this will make sense if commanders use the agency as a “proving ground” before bringing strategies and tactics to bear in the public.

And while a true “Network” may never form between police and civilians because of the necessary boundaries between police and public, it can and should form among police and other emergency response agencies.

But at no point should commanders ever feel that their efforts are not enough, or that they should do something they aren’t yet ready for – whether it’s following people back on Twitter, or re-branding their entire community policing strategy.

Community must be worked and built toward, so that incidents on a small or large scale can be dealt with without the added burden of interactive communications that don’t work.

How mature is your community? How might this model help you focus and refine your efforts?

First, Laura’s article “The Dark Figure of Social Media: What Can Twitter Teach Criminologists?” posted yesterday at Read Write Web talks about the necessity of research to help drive social strategy:

For me as a social scientist on Twitter, there’s an exciting potential for everyone from governments to nonprofits to utilize the power of real-time to hypothesize, design, conduct and finally utilize analytics.

What does this mean for law enforcement agencies? For starters, it will help drive forward how to use all these social tools we’ve been hearing about. I blogged several weeks ago about being bored with stories on how police departments all seem to be using social tools the same way. Laura’s research will give them the framework they need to start making decisions on how to use it not as others do, but in the ways that are best for them and their communities… even if (especially if) the idea breaks new ground.

Tied into this idea, Laura posted a tweet last night about Layar, the world’s first augmented reality web browser. Here’s the video:

watch?v=b64_16K2e08

The first thing that came to mind viewing this was: Holy crap, this would be an amazing tactical tool! For SWAT… for incident commanders… for drills… for traffic… for narcotics… the list goes on. What kinds of applications can you think of?

We’re hoping that once the G20 is over with, we’ll start to hear more from Tim, and Hervey too, and even a couple of our friends and colleagues from across the pond (whose social innovations we don’t hear enough about here in the US). But meanwhile, we hope you have a better idea now of what to expect: the kind of forward thinking Cops 2.0 was founded to bring to light.