How To Become A Police Officer

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Tim Burrows

I was looking through some old emails today and I found an interesting little pattern. I was searching for a particular email and I could only remember bits of the subject matter so I started the search process and one of those delivered a return and after a minute I thought, “Dang…that question has been asked a lot!”

How can I become a police officer? 

I had over 270 emails that returned with that query. (Funny enough, it wasn’t what I was searching for but never overlook an opportunity to deliver content.)

Well, I can only tell you how I became a police officer and how some recruiters will suggest it. To that regard, I would recommend phoning the police agency you want to work for and ask them directly.

But, I also came across this tidy blog post which really spells out a great deal of information on the entire process.  Keep in mind not all of these will be applicable and every jurisdiction will be different in some regard. Click on the link below for some great information.

How To Become A Police Officer

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How do you say thank you?

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Tim Burrows

Thank-You-message2_edited-1Hats off to all the police agencies that know their success depends greatly on their community and in the case of social media, that success translates into likes, followers, subscribers, fans and friends.

Milestones are great to celebrate…anniversaries, birthdays, goal achievements. They are all worth celebrating. What about Twitter followers?

Sure!!!

Say thank you to your audience and here are four great examples of how to do it.

Vancouver Police – July 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HU-eip5ak8

Kansas City Police – August 2013

Mount Prospect Police – February 2014

Baltimore Police – June 2014

What about just putting up a video for no reason at all other than just to do it?

Atlanta Police Department

This one, with honourable mention is a thank you of a different kind. Not to thank people for following, but for allowing the officer to send his 10,000th tweet.

HPSAction Team 4 of the Hamilton Police Service

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rYKaqhiBRM

 

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Party Content for Police – SHINE

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Tim Burrows

Happy Canada Day!  Happy Independence Day!

Screen shot 2014-07-01 at 9.26.03 AM

Screen shot 2014-07-01 at 9.27.46 AMWhat a great week in North America. BBQ’s, fireworks, travel, parties and more content than you can shake a sparkler at!

Hopefully you have planned for this and if not, get to work right now because you have a treasure chest of content that you should be sharing this week. Canada, you might be a little late to this party but America, time to hit it out of the park!

10 Messages You Can Be Creating

1.) Fireworks safety and laws restricting their use.

2.) Road safety for travellers.

3.) Preventive maintenance for boats and cars.

4.) Drinking driving / boating awareness.

5.) Home safety when you’re away.

6.) Water safety.

7.) Drinking responsibly.

8.) Hosting celebrations safely.

9.) Happy Birthday messages from your agency for your country.

10.) Thank you messages to your Armed Forces personnel

Once you create the content, or curate the content from other sources, you can re-use it over and over as long as it stays relevant and you build your own library to share anytime in the future.

Remember when you create content for your social media presence, the end-user value is where you need to place the priority. This is all about making your community;

  • Safer (protect your community)
  • Highlighted (profile your community events)
  • Informed (educate your community)
  • Needed (it’s a partnership)
  • Engaged (build the relationship with your partners)

Have a great first week of July!!

Have more suggestions that can help other agencies make their communities SHINE? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

Oh and be careful….Fireworks are dangerous!

From: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Fireworks/

From: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Fireworks/

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Sir Robert Peel’s Social Media Principles of Modern Policing #SMDAY

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Tim Burrows

Mashable Social Media Day 2014

To honor the 5th Mashable Social Media Day, I thought it would be fun to re-write Sir Robert Peel‘s,  “Peel’s Principles of Modern Policing” with a social media focus. Enjoy.

Social Peelian Principle 1

The primary objective for policing efforts through their social media presence must be that of educating and informing the public to assist them in protecting themselves from becoming victims of crime and avoiding conflict.

Social Peelian Principle 2

Police use of social media must at all times consider the public perception of their activities first ensuring those activities are never used to embarrass, humiliate or belittle the public.

Social Peelian Principle 3 

Police use of social media must convey their presence in the best interest of their community with the end user value placed as the paramount reason for posting information.

Social Peelian Principle 4

Using social media as a threat to induce action or as a tool to convey false information in an attempt to sway opinion or involvement will cause a public backlash in the social space and must never occur.

Social Peelian Principle 5

Social media should at all times must be used to strengthen the police commitment to their support of existing laws and regulations and never to pander to the opinion of individuals when the greater good for all is at stake.

Social Peelian Principle 6

Any event where physical confrontation may be anticipated, police must use social media to give warnings, advice and clear legal rules surrounding authorized and justifiable use of force to ensure that every means to avoid conflict are well articulated and that peaceful interactions are the ultimate quest.

Social Peelian Principle 7

The police should at all times share the interests of the public and the public should share the interests of the police when a greater benefit to all can be realized. Both the public and the police must work to solve the problems of the other for they are truly the same.

Social Peelian Principle 8 

Social media is a support mechanism and communication tool for front-line policing and can be utilized as a service multiplier to increase the effectiveness of face-to-face interactions and investigations.  The rules that apply to all aspects of policing must also apply to the use of social media.

Social Peelian Principle 9

The ultimate goal of the police use of social media should be that of constantly moving the community towards less reliance on policing to provide safety, security and service due to an absence of crime through education, awareness and self insulation from crime, criminal activity and disorder management.

 

Sir Robert Peel

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A Tweet of “mistaken” identity

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Tim Burrows

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.

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?

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.

CBS News 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.

ABC News Story

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?

 

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You ARE Being Watched

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Tim Burrows

I am not a conspiracy theorist. I don’t believe in cover ups that involve thousands of people because as we all know, a secret kept between 2 people is a challenge…kept by hundreds or more? Not a chance.

You are you know

You are you know

So when I say you ARE being watched, I say it because it’s true on many different levels. Sure ‘Big Brother’ is always the fallback. Government is an easy target as big brother but let’s be honest about something here…big brother is tiny compared to big business and big data. Not to mention, ‘Big Brother’ is tiny compared to the real big brother…all of us.

Every click you make on a keyboard, every site you visit, every store you enter, every search you make are all being indexed, evaluated and sold.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a big problem with most of the data mining that goes on. I look at some of it as a cost of doing business. I also accept fully that to use some tools for free, I am a commodity to sell which helps pay for my free use.

What I do have a problem with is not being told about exactly what is being mined, how much is being mined and where that information is being kept. Most importantly, I want to know the level of security there is on the safe keeping of my information. I have rarely been given the opportunity to “OPT-OUT” of that information suck.

I have never asked by any Internet provider, “Is it OK with you to provide all your web visits to a 3rd party?”  No choice is where I have the biggest problem.

It is with the above knowledge that I jumped at the opportunity to attend the launch of a KickStarter Program and information session for a new privacy product. ICLOAK. Their website welcome page says it all…

Screen shot 2014-06-27 at 12.38.32 PM

Your privacy should be your choice!

What is ICLOAK?

ICLOAK is a tool that you plug into your computer’s USB port that provides you the ability to ride the net in an anonymous manner. It comes with several features that currently exist and can be easily sourced to provide the same level of anonymity while you are on the web.

The ICLOAK Device

The ICLOAK Device

Why ICLOAK

Since there are currently many ways to go invisible online, why would you need ICLOAK? Simple. ICLOAK isn’t designed for tech savvy people who know how to go invisible. It’s designed for the majority of the population that want privacy without needing to know the underweb or coding skills. It’s made for everyday people with everyday computer skills. All you have to know how to do is plug-in a USB drive and turn on your computer. THAT’S IT!!

Who needs it?

Anyone who wants to protect their own online existence and privacy.

Where would you use it?

ANYWHERE you connect to the Internet. Home is where most people connect and it will keep your ISP from being able to build their much-needed data file profile on you but let’s get realistic. You are pretty safe in your home. Unless you are already a really bad person, there isn’t much chance of someone wanting to really dive into your computer. But what about when you aren’t home.

Being watched from the dark

Being watched from the dark

Ever surf on free Wifi at McDonald’s or Starbucks? Do you know who is sitting near you grabbing your information? What about travelling? Ever log into an airport’s free Wifi? How do you know you are really on a trusted Wifi site?

How about that real secure hotel WiFi? “They gave me a password to log into the site.” Yes, and the guy in the next room got the exact same password and is connected to the same network.

Did you know that anyone with a laptop can create a ‘HotSpot’ and name it for the location? Yes…anyone can do that.

As part of the launch party, being a blogger I was given the opportunity to join media and other writers in a private audience with the CEO of ICLOAK, Eric B Delisle who shared his vision for ICLOAK and why he and his team have developed this technology.

CEO Eric B Delisle

CEO Eric B Delisle

I immediately saw a passion in Mr Delisle about his desire to help protect people and to help give them a choice as he shared the creation process (the why). A couple of things really resonated with me coming from a policing background.

Eric talked about the people he thought about in the process of bringing this project forward. People like his mom and dad, family and friends. People who need a simple system to protect themselves.

My mind went to women and children who have been the victim’s of domestic violence. They have a real need to hide where they are when online.  Children who are being tracked at an unbelievable level…in schools as they do online assignments with timed algorithms and keystroke tracking while big pharma sits backs analyses and thinks, “This child has a learning disability. Let’s direct market drugs to the parents.”

I thought about some of research people do for others on the Internet and outernet sites. Without context some people might look like they need to be tracked.

What about the BAD people?

Natural question. If this technology affords good, honest hard-working people the ability to hide doesn’t it make sense the bad people can hide with it too?

Of course, but here is the reality. Bad people, child predators, pedophiles, malicious hackers already know how to hide and for the most part way better than most of us will ever be able to understand.

Simple Highlights

  • anonymous browsing
  • malware and virus protection
  • location hiding
  • changing IP and MAC address
  • ease of use

I encourage you to go to the website and look for yourself.

Here is a great place to start your own education and you can help make a difference at the same time. ICLOAK Kickstarter site.

Update July 1, 2014 – Tech Crunch article about ICLOAK

 

Posted in Communication, Privacy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Supreme Court Limits Law Enforcement’s Ability to Search Arrestee Cell Phones

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Tim Burrows

United States binding decision only.

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The Health Risks and Impacts of Helping People On Their Worst Day

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Tim Burrows

Thanks to Badge of Life for this post.
Truly not enough is talked about the PTSD and stress that impacts the support network of dispatchers and call-takers that are the back bone of the 911 system.

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Social media ‘at least half’ of calls passed to front-line police?

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Tim Burrows

This morning Twitter and Facebook lit up with mentions of an article that appeared in the UK via The BBC.

Chief Constable Alex Marshall, head of the College of Policing had this to say;

“As people have moved their shopping online and their communications online, they’ve also moved their insults, their abuse and their threats online, so I see that it won’t be long before pretty much every investigation that the police conduct will have an online element to it.

“It’s a real problem for people working on the front line of policing, and they deal with this every day.

“So in a typical day where perhaps they deal with a dozen calls, they might expect that at least half of them, whether around antisocial behaviour or abuse or threats of assault may well relate to social media, Facebook, Twitter or other forms.”

While this is a completely shocking number…50% of all front-line policing calls have a relationship to social media, it’s really not that bad, yet.

Having been on the front-line of policing and having responded to and or advised of calls that were generated from social media posts and interactions, the number of actual crimes are much less than fifty percent.

Some are clear-cut. Threats between people involved in relationship, contact through social media when there is a court or release order prohibiting it, bullying that has moved into the realm of threats and or harassment, evidence of a crime contained in a post. Those crimes are readily apparent and don’t change the police work involved. Front-line gets the call, does a preliminary investigation and follows through based on the evidence presented.

Here is the grey area put succinctly by an officer in the article,

“A lot of the time.. it’s that whole attitude of, ‘I don’t know what to do, I’ll call the police, they’ll sort it out for me.’

“It should be a case of let’s be sensible, let’s not be friends with that person on Facebook, perhaps contact Facebook first or don’t use Facebook. It’s common-sense stuff.”

The reason it’s so grey? It has to be looked into to ensure there is no back story, no history and no chance that threats are truly believed to be real. Not to mention the number of times people will call for police because they received a scam email or social media phishing scam that they want thoroughly investigated even if no crime had been committed.

Chief Marshall agreed,

“People throughout history have shouted abuse at each other and had disagreements and arguments and possibly said things that they regret later and the police have never investigated every disagreement between everyone,”

I think that there truly needs to be data collection specific to the calls for service generated from social media. Using a number like 50% of all front-line policing screams problematic if that number is not reality. That kind of number can have significant consequences on budgets, human resources, resource allocation and training.

Police certainly need to recognize the issue and prepare for it with training and education for both their members and the communities served. When resources are already stretched thin, you can’t possibly dedicate 50% of your front line efforts to dealing with calls for service because someone needs help dealing with a phishing scam.  As the UK refer to them, “Anti-Social Behaviours online”.

Short answer to go hand in hand with the training for officers to recognize cyber and social media related information and evidence collection is a look at two tier policing unit designed as a clearing house.

A unit that would vet non-emergency calls and provide over the phone or email based solutions and advice with its own investigative branch before having to initiate a formal police response.

Via @NBC News, Oakland

Via @NBC News, Oakland

Some agencies are already doing this, but again, looking at resource stretched policing tax dollars, do police officers need to do this?

Finally, here is a great counter piece to the both what I have written here and the original article from the BBC.

Fact-check: is “half” of police work really related to social media?

What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments below…maybe your idea could become the solution.

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Protecting Our K9 Partners

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Tim Burrows

Identifying the signs of heat exhaustion in an officer’s 4 legged partners.
Important information…

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