Twitter and Facebook have become the Denver Police Department’s preferred method for sharing information about traffic accidents, crime news — and how the Broncos are playing.
The agency’s Twitter account, the ninth-most followed law-enforcement account in the U.S., has grown dramatically this year. Social media has become an effective tool for the police department to deliver public safety news, and some casual commentary that some followers say is inappropriate.
“We want to be accessible,” said Commander Matt Murray, the department’s chief of staff. “People would come up to a crime-scene tape in a neighborhood and ask, ‘What happened.’ And the policy was to say, ‘Move along, move along.’ We’ve created a virtual environment (to respond to questions) and that happens all the time.”
Murray said about 10 people have access to the department’s social media accounts, including one full time social-media employee.
But the tone of the Twitter feed seems to change on weekends, particularly when the Broncos are playing. On Sunday, a flurry of rah-rah tweets from the @DenverPolice account started with a “FAN COURTESY ALERT: if u don’t like our fun sports tweets,turn off your device. BOUT TO GET REAL-go @Broncos.”
Some followers joined the cheerleading. But others were critical, saying the Denver police account should be used only for official police business.
“What the Denver police are doing with the Broncos, that’s really an abuse of the 36,000 followers they have. They’re following the account for news, but instead they’re getting immature tweets about the game,” said Coloradans for Justice organizer Jo Cusick, who filed a formal complaint about the game-day tweets.
Other departments, she said, couch support for the home team with a nod to public safety — Great game! Stay safe on the drive home!
“If the police department wants to be seen as more soft, caring and gentle, maybe they should think about that when they are pepper spraying peaceful protectors,” she said. “That would go a lot further than some Broncos tweets.”
The Denver Police Department has no official social media policy, Murray said. But, he added, “we believe that social media is social.”
The department’s Twitter account grew 71 percent this year and allows the cops to interact with far more people than, say, an old-fashioned community meeting, Murray said.
“We have personality. We’re interesting. You can’t do that by just putting out a just the facts everyday,” he said. “So, we’re a little edgy.”
Adding personality to a social-media account can be a good strategy, said Natalie Winslow, co-founder of New Why, a Denver agency that helps companies craft social-media policies.
“They’re trying to seem like human beings, especially now with what happened in Ferguson (and those) who may feel like the police don’t represent them,” she said.
Companies — and police departments — need to decide what the purpose of the social media account is and be consistent, she said.
“One thing they can do is come up with an organizational voice so you don’t have these disparate voices coming through. Otherwise, it seems disjointed,” she said, noting that Broncos tweets were more popular than others.
She also suggested that non-crime tweets be marked with a special hashtag, such as #community.
According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Center for Social Media, about 3,200 agencies nationwide use some form of social media. And those are the ones that the IACP knows about, said Ben Gorban, IACP’s project coordinator. Denver police’s Twitter account, ranks as the ninth most followed agency among those with more than 1,000 employees.
“The biggest reason is obviously outreach and engagement,” Gorban said. “Younger people tend to get their news on Facebook and Twitter, for better or for worse. I follow my hometown police department on Facebook, but my dad doesn’t. They’ll post that a certain road is closed because there’s a crash and I’ll call my dad and tell him, ‘Don’t go home on the 22.’ “
Police departments are using social media to increase goodwill, like when the Boston Police posted a photo of a cute puppy wearing bullet-proof vest. But on the other hand, others stop because they can’t monitor the site, or must take down posts because, for example, users start naming people who may be innocent, he said.
“The easiest way to start the conversation and outreach with people who may not have the best view of policemen (may be to) say ‘Hey, they root for the Broncos, too,’ ” Gorban said.
If there is breaking news that could impact public safety, Murray says the casual Tweeting stops immediately.
“We’re not going to disrespect this,” Murray said. “We know that what we do is important and serious.”
Tamara Chuang: 303-954-1209, tchuang@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Gadgetress