Smart Social Media During Emergencies
Photo credit: Ion Vincent Danu
With the advent of cell phone cameras and social media came new social problems for the police and law breakers alike. Many a criminal has been apprehended by social media. We share pictures of missing children, suspects caught on video and even lost pets. All good kinds of social media working for law enforcement. Some who have committed crimes are captured and identified by their own postings.
However, there are issues both for the individual and the police when it comes to what is ok to film and when it is ok to post it. Many individuals have posted unflattering images of the police which has kept many departments public relations offices quite busy. Other individuals have used their capture of the event to prove their cases in court. Both examples of the camera and social media working for the individual to the law enforcement agency’s detriment.
As always there is another side of the coin. When an emergency event is occurring, and people are posting play by play activity to social media they may actually be assisting the bad guy! He/she may also have immediate access to social media and be watching the trending posts as they are going up. This could give the perpetrator information he/she needs to escape or harm others. He or she can see what you can… where the police are and what they are doing! So, there are also police departments asking us to be smart about social media during a crisis and only post after the event has concluded and or provide the media to them prior to going public with it, if it could help them apprehend the suspect. The bulletin from those departments is also linked below.
Local police ask you to “Tweet Smart” during emergencies
Social media can be an asset to the individual as long as we use it wisely. During an emergency situation please stay out of harm’s way and use your ability to record the events smartly! These are the generally accepted rules for filming police, while keeping yourself out of trouble!
7 Rules for Recording the police
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