How One Police Department Is Using Facebook Effectively

I recently received a tip from Ron, an old college classmate of mine. He grew up in Medina, Ohio and still lives and works there. I’m always looking for new and interesting ways that various organizations and businesses are using Social Media, and Ron provided me with an interesting example.

The Medina Police Department has it’s own Facebook page, and they seem to be providing some great services. Oh, sure, the City of Medina has its own website, which is your typical municipal website with rather static information, and a typical page for the police department. Not much more than an online brochure. But on Facebook, you get a much better picture of what is going on in this city of about 26,000 residents (and over 2,100 fans…not a bad percentage).

Here are a few ways the Medina Police are utilizing Facebook as a true means of being public servants:

1. Taking public service to the public – A lot of what they post on the Facebook page could be posted on their website. But how often do you go to your municipalities website? Now how often do you log on to Facebook? The residents of Medina ARE on Facebook, and the police have a better chance of getting their attention by going where the people are!

2. Alerting the public to ongoing crimes and investigations – The Medina police routinely post photos of those who have outstanding warrants for their arrest. In a town the size of Medina, there’s a good chance that someone on Facebook will see the pictures and be able to help out.

3. Touting their successes – The police department also posts links to articles reporting on key arrests and initiatives, as well as honors and awards.

4. General Information – Medina’s police also post updates on key partnerships, hirings, promotions, and other information of interest to the community.

They also seem to have tried out Twitter for a bit, but didn’t grow that platform well, and seemed to abandon it after only four tweets back in October, 2009. I would encourage them to revisit Twitter and perhaps examine how the Boston P.D. is utilizing the microblogging platform.

Because platforms like Twitter and Facebook work in near real-time fashion, and many access them via mobile devices, the possibilities are endless. From crisis management and emergency info distribution to traffic updates and more. Of course, there is always the possibility of the police scanner effect: people getting rapid information on crimes, fires, accidents, and rather than avoiding the area, they might head in that direction to gawk. College campuses already use rather simple text notification systems to let students know about campus emergencies, and Social Media could do many of the same things, particularly Twitter.

Overall, the Medina Police Department is doing a great job. They engage well with their online community, and the public relations impact is fantastic. Most of us generally have no clue as to how active and successful our police department’s are, unless we dig through the weekly police blotter in the newspaper. In Medina, daily updates inform residents of what is going on in a timely manner.

Municipalities, Police, Fire, and yes…even businesses, could learn a lot from this model.

Is there anything here you can apply to your particular Social Media situation?

Tagged as: facebook, police, Social Media, Twitter