It's true, the LA Police Department have started their first blog. (Found via Ed Cone on eWeek.) They say they aim to have all 19 precincts blogging soon. Typepad, moderated comments, using Feedburner but haven't put the new feed in their header tags for autodetection and capture of all subscribers (just like almost everyone else!) and no e-mail subscription to new posts - so easy with Feedburner and a good idea for a nontechnical audience as I'm sure this blog will have.
Reminds me of the NYPD podcast, now available in English and Spanish! When that one first started you could almost picture some aging cops sidling up to a microphone, trying to take it very seriously but also not entirely clear what was going on.
All of this raises the question - if these new social media are about conversation, typically unfiltered - can a centralized, authority-based organization like a police department really make much of these tools? If they can, is there any type of organization out there that just should not be blogging or podcasting?
LAPD starts a blog
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. The more cops talk, the less likable they become. The average citizen can not understand the emotional roller coaster of law enforcement. Cops sound like bitter complainers. The LAPD Blog is a bad move by the department.
Posted at 8:54PM on Aug 4th 2006 by Brian S. Bentley
1. In 1995, I told Community Affairs Group that LAPD needed a website. Commander McBride said we couldn't post one without written policies. When I went to the policy people, they said that I didn't need policy because we had no website! I bought equipment, learned html, and uploaded my site to the city servers without policy or permission. Today, www.LAPDOnline.org is a model for police websites on the planet.
Blogs are important - but not for the same reason. While LAPD now has an official website, blogs will permit officers and the community to interact in ways that have only recently been explored. Since I retired in 2000, I've been able to openly describe my LAPD experiences in ways that would have generated retaliation a decade ago. If the public has an open forum to exchange information, police and the community can create the positive relationships that are necessary to instill the public trust and help LA cops serve their neighborhoods.
I look forward to the open debate and dialogue that such forums will offer.
Posted at 2:19PM on May 14th 2006 by Clark Baker