RUNNING HEADER: COMMUNICATION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS 1

COMMUNICATION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

By Jaron McAlister
LEPSL 510: Communication for Law Enforcement Leaders
04/21/2019
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Law Enforcement is an incredibly unique and difficult profession which demands well

thought and polished communication. Law Enforcement is a service industry which relies on the

satisfaction of its community. Highly emotional events and false narratives may diminish the

community’s satisfaction, in turn leading to an ineffective agency. It is imperative that agencies

adopt practices which not only allow, but enhance two-way communication between the

community and the agency. As part of building trust within the community the Madera Police

Department took to social media in 2013. Prior to the creation of this page community

outreach was informal and scarce. The Madera Police Department has utilized three platforms

to connect with the public regarding varying types of information; city website, Facebook, and

Nixle alerts.

The department has a website linked to the City of Madera’s main city page. The

website offers basic information regarding various steps in obtaining records, department

divisions and a crime center. The website is aesthetically appealing to the eye and incorporates

an updated format. Beyond the visual characteristics the website is not being actively or wisely

utilized. The website is a perfect format for the Chief to place his face and brand for the world

to see. Unfortunately, the Chief’s message is absent and information is not updated. There is a

link to a calendar which should be filled with department related events but sadly the calendar

is blank. The Chief’s blog has not been updated since January 2017 which shows a lack of

interest in communication. The department website should encourage community members to

visit the site to obtain pertinent information. Captain Denton Carlson with the San Ramon

Police Department addressed this very idea, “So when we talk about the police department-

specific side of that website, we really wanted to make it a location where community
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members can go to find out what we offer. What is our agency about? What we can offer to

them, what services we provide” (University of San Diego, 2019). The website should reflect the

personality of the department, which additional thought and effort should be put into. The

Madera Police Department has failed in this regard of online communication.

Facebook has become an industry changing tool for law enforcement agencies.

Facebook provides a free platform for a department to reach a large portion of its community.

The Madera Police Department created its Facebook page in 2013 and it has evolved into an

extremely effective tool when communicating with the community. When observing the

department’s Facebook page, it is abundantly clear the posts revolve around department

imagery. The majority of the content depicts officers at community events or announcing

upcoming events. For entertainment sake, many images are posted of arrestee’s and the

officers in the performance of their duties. Even though, the department has benefited from

the use of Facebook, it has become overly reliant upon it. Many sergeants are utilizing

Facebook to broadcast critical incident information to the public such as major crashes or

shootings. Facebook is not an effective tool for communicating time sensitive information. Dr.

Wendy Patrick offers the platform Twitter as the most effective tool to send out this type of

information. “Twitter allows law enforcement agencies to share public information succinctly

and immediately” (University of San Diego, 2019). The Madera Police Department should look

to the creation of a Twitter account in order to broaden their communication outreach. Captain

Carlson spoke about virtually every media outlet monitors Twitter for their news content.

“Information is flowing through Twitter faster than you can even imagine, but from a law

enforcement perspective, the major advantage to Twitter is almost every single media outlet
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has a strong presence of Twitter and they are following their local law enforcement agencies to

get the information that’s put out as quickly as possible” (University of San Diego, 2019). What

an exceptional opportunity for an agency to get ahead of the story and control the narrative by

using Twitter.

Nixel is a system which is utilized by agencies to put out emergency notices and alerts.

The Madera Police Department has utilized this system to inform the public regarding road

closures or critical incidents. The system is effective, succinct and rapid; however, its

effectiveness completely relies upon people registering for the service. The department is

finding that not many community members have registered for the alerts, therefore, are not

receiving the critical information. The department should not solely rely upon one platform for

the dissemination of critical information and should incorporate a platform more commonly

utilized such as Twitter.

Overall, the Madera Police Department has done a good job in utilizing social media, but

focuses much of its efforts towards one platform. The department should update and stay

current with its website as it is the center piece of professionalism for the department.

Facebook has been a highly beneficial tool and its utilization should be continued for optics and

public outreach. The use of Twitter should be adopted for critical incident posts which will help

control media content and narrative as well as reach the community members much more

effectively.
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REFERENCES:

Carlson, D. (2019) The Tactics of Online Communication. Retrieved from

https://ole.sandiego.edu/ultra/courses/_56466_1/cl/outline

Patrick, W. (2019) Online Communication The New Face of Public Safety. Retrieved from
https://ole.sandiego.edu/ultra/courses/_56466_1/cl/outline