Law Enforcement Agents, Meet Christa Miller, and Become Cops 2.0

We're all connected in more ways than one, and not just on social networks. We're connected through the people we know and the projects we work on.

In this series of conversations about you I have an opportunity to help bring these connections to the fore. I'm collecting the links to the conversations back on the about you page, so you can reference not just the comments, but the context they came from.

I enjoyed meeting Christa Miller and learning about her work. We kept the questions brief so that you can have a chance to ask her your own. I think what she does is fascinating, as I'm sure you will.

Why are you online?

There's no real reason not to be! I've been online since my first year of college 16 years ago. Then, listservs provided fun downtime between classes, and also helped me tap into communities I didn't have access to on campus, because I lived at home. (This also became important when I had children.)

Later, when I started my freelance writing business, I was successful because I was able to find out about, then research and reach, people all across the country without very much time or effort. Most recently I've learned how to use social tools to network.

What prompted to post in "About You" at Conversation Agent?

A desire to start participating more in the conversation with other PR/marketing/social media professionals. I've been writing in the B2B space for 8 years, but as I start to grow into the wider PR area, I want to network with people I think I can truly learn from and perhaps help -- now and down the road.

I have found Conversation Agent's content to resonate particularly, so it's one of the places I try to spend time.

What are you working on that you feel will connect ideas and people?

My blog, Cops 2.0, is -- I hope -- showing law enforcement agencies that it's OK to engage the public via social media rather than broadcast at them, as they are somewhat used to doing with media. I do see a lot of that, especially on Twitter, but I also see a few brave departments and officers out there connecting more personally, so I want to point to them as examples of how it can work to show law enforcement as human above all else.

I think a lot of police officers and administrators have this fear that if they engage the public as humans, they will lose their authority. The good ones know this is not true. You can be friendly and open with people and still have their respect, even when you do need to step into an enforcement capacity.

As Gen Y start to move into law enforcement, I hope that they will bring social media skills with them and adapt them to the job before they learn (either through experience or other cops) to shield themselves from the public.

I'm also working with a company that seeks to change the way investigators approach the Internet as a place to find evidence of criminal activity. That might appear to fly in the face of social media values -- I'm sure some people would look at it as "Big Brother" -- but a lot of cops won't go online for a variety of reasons.

They don't know how to collect and preserve evidence there, or their administrators think it's just a big waste of time. They should be protecting the Internet as they do the other physical neighborhoods they patrol.

So as I represent this company, Vere Software, my hope is to help show investigators that just as they keep one eye on the activity in the neighborhood as they perform community policing -- online they can also be friendly and helpful, but also know what to look for and how to get it to keep everyone safe.

Who would you like to connect with?

I want to connect with any law enforcement agency doing something really unique with social media, engaging *with* the public in some way rather than simply having a presence on Twitter and Facebook. I'd like to have more case studies on Cops 2.0.

Otherwise, any PR/marketing veteran willing to provide guidance to a noob with no formal training would be helpful!

Thanks again, Valeria. My Twitter handle is @christammiller.

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There are a numbe of blogs under communications and marketing on my blogroll you might consider reading, if you don't already Christa.

Does any of you know of and can connect Christa with law enforcement agencies that are doing something interesting with social media?Let's keep testing our six degrees of separation.

Comments

[Stuart Foster]

Very interesting take and premise. I'm wondering though, how do you overcome privacy laws? Or do you keep the talk to strictly best practices within police work?

[Christa M. Miller]

Hi Valeria - I do read many of the blogs in your blogroll. :) It is often a matter of finding the time to do so regularly, as I'm still learning how to fit social media into my day to day!

I confess that I was hoping to get a little more feedback here, but given that I hardly ever comment (that would be due to sheer intimidation of the light-years-ahead-of-me minds here) I will be grateful just for the posting. :) Of course, as I gain more experience I hope to have more value to contribute, but for right now I'm listening and learning.

Of course anyone who wishes to contact me directly is more than welcome!

[Christa M. Miller]

Stuart, I totally just posted my comment at the same time as you!!

When you ask about privacy, what do you mean... are you talking about the line between conversing on social sites and investigating them?

I have been told that it is not considered unreasonable search and seizure if a LEO "friends" someone, that person accepts the request, and the LEO proceeds to use pictures, blog entries etc. to build a case. The person accepted the request of their own free will, like granting entry into a home.

Unreasonable is if the LEO has a friend at Facebook (or wherever) and gets account access without a warrant. Is that the kind of thing you are talking about?

Murkier is issues like whether a PD should follow its followers back on Twitter - some civilians consider this too "Big Brother"-ish, and the PD account holders just keep an eye out for their @s and DMs - but again, it's the social web. You post something, it's out there for the world to see; not much expectation of privacy (as we are finding in various court cases and employment issues).

All that said, I may not have hit on what you were asking. I do try to focus on "best practices" but I also do want to address more legal aspects at some point.

[Stuart Foster]

Thanks for jumping in Christa...you just hit on a lot of my concerns. I'm a little wary of allowing authorities access to my life...seems just a tad creepy...

[Christa M. Miller]

I guess the way I look at it is, there are a lot of creeps who now have access to my life (at least the largely professional aspect). If LE has access to it too, that's cool with me.

Did you see the "My #1 Friend is a Cop" case study on Cops 2.0? That's what that is all about - kids' ability to tell creeps that they have access to LE. (Though, as that detective noted, some kids do share your concerns.)

I would be interested to explore further. I wonder if many folks don't like the idea because they want to be able to post "whatever, whenever"? So then it's incumbent on LEOs to continue to relationship build? Anyway, if you want to discuss more, let me know and maybe we can talk more via email!

[Valeria Maltoni]

Excellent discussion, Stuart and Christa. There are fears and doubts associated with novelty, or hearing about something and not understanding its implications.

I'm glad you were able to have the exchange and drill down some more.