Early Sunday morning in Dallas, Texas, a man was arrested after a disturbance call at a nightclub. The man is Yaqub Talib, the brother of Aqib Talib of the NFL’s Denver Broncos.
One of the Dallas Police Department’s spokespeople Tweeted that the arrest was that of Aqib, not Yaqub. In the eyes of some, this is a grand mistake may have been the desire to be fast, not accurate according to the Denver Broncos Executive Director of Media Relations, Patrick Smyth.
With social media, accuracy often gets sacrificed for timeliness!!
— Patrick Smyth (@psmyth12) June 29, 2014
How did it happen?
According to one news report, the arrested male allegedly told officers he played ball in the NFL which was supported by individuals in the crowd. In police circles, this would be an event worthy of media attention so the information would have been passed to the command of the Dallas PD, including the media relations team.
Enter Maj Max Geron and “the tweet”. Maj Geron put out the information that Aqib was the arrested male and thus the story began.
3 hours later, the facts emerged in their proper form and MajGeron went back to Twitter with the correction and an apology.
#BREAKING CORRECTION – Yaqub Talib 31yrs old was arrested. My apologies to Aqib Talib. Original information reported was incorrect. ~Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD)
Was this speed vs accuracy?
No. This was a case of bad information being relayed. Geron did what most of us would do. He tried to confirm the information he had been given by going to Google with the information that he had been supplied. Search-> NFL -> Denver Broncos -> Roster -> Talib -> Result: Aqib Talib
Anyone else confused by this Denver Broncos Picture?
The media twist.
The mistake and the correction in this story aren’t even what I found interesting. It was the two media reports that raised my eyebrows.
One agency focused on the facts of the story that led to the problem. The other focused on the perceived controversy of police using social media as indicated in the quotes from each story.
Officers responding to the scene said Yaqub Talib was the primary instigator in the disturbance. When questioned he reportedly told officers that he played ball in the NFL. Other individuals in the crowd also told police he played for the Denver Broncos.
In February, Chief David Brown spearheaded efforts to get his officers more involved in using social media. At the time, both The Dallas Police Association and the Dallas Fraternal Order of Police expressed concerns about whether it was the best use of officer’s time, and worried that officers could get in trouble for reporting too much or incorrect information about crimes.
Take Aways
1.) Fact Check – Not once, not twice, but 3 times for every piece of inconsistent information that presents itself. This is especially true when police are dealing with something that can bring national attention.
2.) Own your mistakes – Maj Geron was the first one to stand up and say, “I made a mistake, here is the new and more accurate information and I’m sorry for the mistake.” Talk about class! As much as this wasn’t his fault, he OWNED it as his with NO EXCUSES.
3.) Make sure your team is all on the same page – It is apparent in the 2nd story that the opinion on the Dallas PD use of social media isn’t a fully supported integration. 5 years ago I can understand that. Today, I just don’t get it. There is far more good that police can do for their community at large with social media to ignore it. Concerns? Absolutely but make sure all your team understands the goals and objectives, recognizes the concerns and the risk mitigation to alleviate those fears and work together to achieve a unified success.
Dallas does a really nice job with their social media for their community. (IMHO)
Question
Please feel free to answer this question in the comments:
Should inaccurate information be deleted once corrections have been made or should they stay?
It’s too bad they’re aren’t an comments yet. I was really looking forward to the debate and opinions!
Me too.
I think some people feel commenting might compromise their agency/jurisdictional stance.
Glad you commented though Mike.
For continuity, thoroughness, and transparency, if social media is used to correct a factual mistake in a post closely following it I’m sequence, it should stay. If it can’t be done in sequence, a full explanation to set context should be used, and removing the out of sequence mistake is appropriate. Agencies should also make sure that their take-down policies can cove such an issue.
Great post, Tim!
Well put sir!
I love the take-down policy being complete enough to cover the situation.
What do you think about the possibility of the mistake being shared if it stays? Could an agency be satisfied in redirecting to the correct content?
That’s all part of transparency, I think… But I also think if it falls too far from the correction post, then delete the original and modify it all to one post.
Aweosome. Thanks for your feedback.