Cops tweeting from their shifts. Grits supposes, in retrospect, it was inevitable; indeed, it could eventually become both a constant and ubiquitous public relations tool. For now, though, it's just an occasional gimmick. Last week, several Texas police departments participated in a "Tweetalong" - a portmanteau of "Tweet" and "ride-along" - where officers tweeted what they were doing from their shifts. Or at least, to paraphrase the Grey Lady, all the news that's fit to tweet. There was apparently a previous Tweetalong over the summer.
See the string at #tweetalong.
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| Texas Tweetalong promotional logo |
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| Arlington cops' Twitter selfie |
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| Carrollton PD Tweetalong Twitter pic |
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| Game wardens get into the act. |
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Dash and body cams are
about accountability. Tweetalongs are about PR.
And to further insulate police officers from the rest of society and perpetuate the Us vs Them mentality, a former NYPD chief has launched a Facebook-type social networking site just for cops: http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5273%3Aformer-nypd-chief-launches-social-media-platform-for-cops&catid=112%3Anew-york&Itemid=295
ReplyDeleteMan--somebody get me the Twitter handle of that Arlington PD chick!
ReplyDeleteI bet a couple of tweets along the lines of "Saw black man. Stopped and searched him." won't do much for PR...
Rage
portmanteau? NICE!
ReplyDeleteBack in the Thesaurus again?
5:17, I don't know that a thesaurus would help, I can't think of a synonym. Not sure there's another word for that concept.
ReplyDeleteCombination. Mash-up. Blend. Amalgam. Composite.
ReplyDeleteThis has inspired me to create another PR program aimed at the underserved communities - Hanging with Hommies, Jorge & lil Jimmy.
ReplyDeleteBasically, where cadets spend the night in a heavily monitored jail cell for their protection (prior to graduation day) in order to get a firsthand account of the shit that goes down in a 24 hour cycle. *Pros - shows them what happens up close and personal when they put tiny or older people in cages with bigger or younger ones. *Cons - the only way out early is to Tweet about what was experienced.
Or, the alternative - Sleep Over Night where cops take a recently released person home with them in order to share, assist and get to better know the humans that they deal with on a daily basis. *Pros -cops won't beat folks they know. *Cons - having breakfast with people you've arrested that all of the sudden remember that you kicked them while they where down and prone.
I suppose those could work, 6:28, but only "portmanteau" is specific to etymology. Seems more precise.
ReplyDeleteInteresting times for LEOs. I watched the arrest of the gun rights folks in Austin on Friday the 13th. Youtube. Knowing they were on camera looks like it prevented some violence by one of the bike troopers who was getting his game face on. Pretty awful for the police but I don't think there is any going back on this one.
ReplyDeleteThey had some awful, but unfortunately true things said to them. Jury still out on whether this will bring some actual public safety and service to the process, but it's interesting watching.
Maybe the standard LEO oath ought to be rewritten if they aren't going to follow it. Then they wouldn't get mocked so much.
Look at it this way. When they are busy doing thier tweets. They are not doing the following
ReplyDeleteillegal assault
illegal arrest
illegal breaking and entering
illegal destruction of private property... ie dog killing
so hell i figure anything that keeps our current crop of useless nazi wannabee cops away from those activities can only be a GOOD THINK!
Hope they all take up the habbit!
Now if they could just infect the DA's as well.