Social media has not been the strongest suit for the New York City Police Department. When an official twitter account was created for the department earlier this year, they encouraged other users to tweet pictures of themselves with a member of the police force under the hashtag #myNYPD. As we know, the intended effect did not take place, and NYPD was forced to witness the negative public opinion surrounding them.
A few months later, in response to a story about a woman who died after falling on subway tracks while she was using her iPad, NYPD Capt. Thomas Harnisch tweeted the message “Let me guess, driver’s fault, right?” Afterwards, Harnisch was criticized for being insensitive, and he later tweeted an apology message:
After those incidents, it seems like a wise move by NYPD to send their commanding officers to Twitter school. The New York Post reports that the training sessions have already begun at John Jay College in Manhatten. Reportedly, the first lesson was focused on preventing officers from impulsive posts that might come back to bite them. To drive home the focus, a memo was handed out with some solid advice: “USE COMMON SENSE”.
The program is attempting to shift the focus of the department’s posts to more “public information” such as NYPD community initiatives, accident-prone locations, streets closures, or a picture of the cop of the month. Officers are also being discouraged from posting information about crime scenes or investigations, and instead, share information that could be more helpful than controversial. A recent post shared information about an upcoming blood drive while another included a Back to School guide. And for a positive note, a post was shared celebrating the rescue of a 9 day old newborn who was locked inside a car.
While it might seem strange that many commanding officers are receiving lessons on what is second nature to a teenager, NYPD is willing to provide them in order to prevent any more embarrassing social media gaffes. “I think the training is a good idea. A lot of COs are a bit older, so they might not know how. They may not realize the power or the damage one wrong message can do,” another police source informed The Post.
Undoubtedly, social media is a powerful communication tool, and it is especially important for those who want to share information with a high number of people. NYPD recognizes the value and dominance that social media has in today’s culture, and once their officers figure out the rules and tricks, they could improve public opinion and have some genuine interaction with their civilians. Here is to hoping that the classes work in preventing NYPD from any more social media fails.
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