Different agencies have written a lot here at IACP about how to post, what to post and when to post, but I’m sure many law enforcement agencies still wonder, “How’s it really going to help me in a crisis?”
Well, let me give you one recent example that just blew me away and made me even more proud of my community.
This past Christmas Eve, we unfortunately had a double homicide. During the incident, the murderer escaped in a vehicle with a two-year-old child strapped in the backseat. The Richmond online community lit up social media like a fire with this information.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, from local business leaders to people who regularly criticize the department, offered their help. They retweeted information about the child that we put out there and asked all of their own followers to retweet the information. They asked publicly how they could help; checked in with us for updates; and a marketing friend privately messaged me to offer a way to track the flood of such information via social media.
They all waited on pins and needles right there with us that night, waiting online for that single tweet that the child was found safely. Mercifully, we were able to send that information out a few hours later.
Everyone knows the police can’t be everywhere at all times. That’s why we rely on our community to help us solve crimes and find the bad guys. On Christmas Eve, I believe the thousands of eyes out there – reached via our established online community – helped us find this child.
And a huge part of this incredible online response was because of the great relationships we’ve been building, both online and off, with our community. Yes, we gained about 200 new followers around that incident, but the most important aspect is that people knew to come to us first for the accurate information and they knew we needed their help.
It all comes down to working together with your community and building up that trust account. We’ve been doing that bit by bit for more than three years now, so when incidents like this happen, our community responds with us. Without us even having to ask. That’s success.
International Association of Chiefs of Police