Back in November, I spoke about being preoccupied with personal problems to the point it became an interference to the job of police work. It's not only deadly while an officer is doing the job, it's potentially deadly due to the how in affects the stress and health of the officer. It was these types of preoccupations that Chief Brooks was talking about in his book "Officer Down, Code Three."
But, there is a newer type of preoccupation I want to talk about. Technology. From the MDT in your cruiser to the social media post on your smart phone, technology is both a help and hindrance in our job. I know the MDT is a fantastic tool in law enforcement. You can get details on a call that should not be put out over the air. This frees the officer and dispatcher from calling each other to get these details. It enables both the dispatch center and police officer to work smarter.
However, the same distractions exist with the MDT as with a cell phone. Reading the screen or typing on the MDT is just as dangerous as it is with a cell phone. Use some common sense. It's one thing to see the alert on a hot call on the screen. This is a large alert meant to be quickly seen. It's another to read some detailed information while still driving. It's the same when you want to type in a tag number while driving. If you're a solo officer, this is a task that should still be performed using the "old school" method of radio and dispatcher. Now, if you have a partner to do these tasks, great. Otherwise, solo officers should stick to being stationary when running tag numbers. As you all know, these MDTs are invaluable when you are on a crash scene. Running tag numbers of multiple cars and license status of multiple drivers on your MDT will make your dispatcher very happy freeing them up to do their job better.
As for social media, keep your posts related to work to a minimum. It would be better to no post about anything work related. Many departments have social media policies that either prohibit the practice of posting anything work related or enabling disciplinary actions against those who post anything critical of their agency on social media. Don't bother fighting these policies. In large part, the legal battles have been fought and lost. You cannot be critical of your employer without consequences. You cannot disclose confidential work related information without consequences. We know this. But why do we think we can post this same information on Facebook or Twitter is OK? Let me tell you, it's wrong! All it takes is ONE of your friends to share this status to someone else. That picture of a crime scene you posted or some comment related to an arrest can drastically affect a prosecution.
As for off-duty conduct, if it's shady, questionable, or even remotely illegal DON'T POST IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA! The argument is, "my page is locked down!" You forget that entities like Facebook change their settings at times and this can automatically change your security settings. Your page may not be as locked down as you think it is. Even if it is, your friends can screen shot your post or picture and give to anyone they want. Remember, if an officer gets in some sort of public jam the first thing reporters do is see if that officer has a Facebook page. Your pictures of your off-duty practices are out there. The bad guys use this tool too. Do you want the really bad guys you deal with to know what your family and kids look like?
I have two Facebook pages. One is through work and I use it in my capacity as public information officer. I do NOT use it for personal opinions that aren't in-line with opinions and goals of my agency. I post pro-police stories and links to press releases from or about my agency. I post local wanted persons with links to the pages of other agencies. It's a WORK page. But my personal page isn't even under my real name. You can't find me. Facebook was under heat prohibiting this and shutting down pages that were reported to them that were not under a person's real name. There have been some push back on this and I think this policy has been relaxed. If you want to have a Facebook page, this is the avenue I would go. Use an alias and restrict your friends to just a few family and really close friends. Don't post too much personal information like the school your kids go to.
Be safe!
No comments:
Post a Comment