What’s your voice saying

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Tim Burrows

When you are representing a business or corporation of any type your voice has the potential to impact the reputation of your organization regardless what type of account you hold.

There are three basic ways you are perceived by an audience:

  1. Corporate
  2. Professional
  3. Personal

The Corporate Account is simple; it is the voice of your agency. What you say, how you say it, where you say it al impact on the reputation and perception of that account. There is always a person behind the keyboard, but that person has to understand that they are the public voice in social media for that corporation.

The Professional Account is one that on its face is an employee of the agency who represents themselves as such.  This account may not carry the same weight as the corporate account, but it nonetheless represents the agency.  This account may be more personal and relatable to the public but professionalism must always remain intact and above reproach.

The Personal Account is the most popular account in the social space.  The account has no ties to the agency, other than the person who populates the information is an employee.  The account holder is just an average everyday person and the account shows no tie to their employer and work is not discussed there. These accounts will often have a disclaimer that the opinions expressed do not reflect the employer. 

The fourth account and often the most dangerous:

The Hybrid Account

The Hybrid account is a combination of the Professional and Personal Account.  Sometimes the account is set up as a personal account but information often contains posts about their work, their position, what they do.  Or, it is just known that the person running the account is an employee of your agency and they are tied back to their agency whether they like it or not. The reason for the danger of this account?  People forget who they are outside of their personal life and often clash with who they are representing, be it by design or by accident.

Your Voice

It doesn’t matter which account you are operating.  You have a voice.  That voice is what you choose to make it.  One bizarre thing that I see is when the types of accounts clash with the position the employees hold or the message they are trying to convey.

You will often see professional accounts get too personal.  Opinions get stated that are not necessarily in line with their employer or their position within the organization.  Put it another way, I really don’t want to hear the CEO of a Fortune 500 company I’ve invested in talking about the beverage choices in the cafeteria.  I would hope that person has their focus on bigger issues.

“But that’s more personal, that’s more relatable.” is what some may say and I’ll agree, it sure is, but is it the job of the CEO to be more personal and relatable or is it to ensure the company runs at peak performance? If I want personal info, I’ll follow the employees.   The CEO can be personable and relatable without lowering themselves or their position.

Police are held to a higher standard and must adhere to that regardless of tactics, tricks and strategies to get more followers, friends and likes.  Want more of those? Give great consistent content and stay in line with what you represent.  Make sure that your information has high-end user value!

This does not instill confidence – actual Police Tweet, re-created to protect the…

You can be personable and relatable without being unprofessional.  The words you use, your grammar and the subjects that you choose to speak about set a great tone for remaining professional while being relatable.

When your voice and your position are in conflict, that is when the biggest problems occur. What is the voice you really want people to hear.

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The Social Experience is what you make it

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Tim Burrows

Positive / NegativeA long time ago, I was told to stop watching the news, reading newspapers and listening to talk radio.  The advice came from someone who I admired and respected for their business sense and sound advice.

Naturally, I posed the question, “Why?” ( side bar : My Mom says it was my first word and I’ve never stopped using it).

The answer was pretty simple and over the years has proven itself true time and time again.  “When something is important enough you will hear it three times from the people within your inner circle of trust.”

Now that doesn’t mean this successful businessman ignored information.  Far from it.  He just chose better where he would get it.  He would go look for specific information that he was interested in.  He would reach out to those people he could learn from and then he would implement his knowledge into his work.

His reason?  He didn’t have time to be distracted by all the negative and garbage that fills the print and airwaves.  He wanted to concentrate on information of value, positive information and information that would improve his clients lives and his own life.

Fast forward to today’s world of increased speed, technology and information.  I still find his advice very relevant.  Just for fun, I went to my main stream of information on Twitter and clicked on every link posted about social media.  In less than two minutes I had opened 27 windows from blogs, news feeds and info graphics.

Imagine the time it would take me to ingest all that information.  The time it would take to read all those stories and posts.  I’m sorry, but as much as I love reading tech stuff…I don’t have that kind of time.

The other thing I did was looked for negative Tweets in general while I was clicking links.  There is a lot of garbage out there.  A lot of negative talk and a lot of just, well, mean people.

I don’t miss my main feed because I liken it to the newspaper or television.  There is a lot of great information there but you have to get through so much crap to find it.  You need do this in your social world as well.  You can do this by filtering your stream of information.

  • Make lists
  • Follow great people
  • Subscribe to feeds of information that is of high value to you
  • Ignore the negative
  • Unfollow constant complainers
  • Remove people from your social world that are never positive
  • Use RSS feeds to be sent the info you want
  • Subscribe to bloggers that inspire or educate you

I know when we see something totally screwed up, we might be inclined to point out the craziness, but is it really worth it?  Do we really need to perpetuate the negative when there is so much great stuff available each and every second?

There is so much good variety out there that your social experience can be anything you want it to be.  It can be any topic or in any medium.

Its great when people are talking around the water cooler about the screw-ups people make in the social world and you can say, “I didn’t know that, but I saw this great cause that I threw my support behind and I feel great about it.”

Happy Days!

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Content is NOT King!

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Tim Burrows

“Hear me, hear me…I have a message”

I know what you’re thinking…Burrows has lost it! What does he mean content is NOT King?  He’s said before that content is king.  He’s re-tweeted and shared others who have said it so why has he flip-flopped on this?

Well, I hear you loud and clear. Up to a couple of weeks ago I fully supported the notion that content is king, but yes I have changed my tune.

I still support the idea that content plays a HUGE role in your online presence.  Without good / great content, you are just another Tweeter, Poster, Sharer.  Your content is probably the second most important thing you can do to create a voice within all the noise around you.

So, if content is the 2nd most important thing and it’s not the king what is? Simple:

Your MESSAGE

Your MESSAGE is King.  It trumps everything else.  It is what will raise you above all others or it is what will destroy you. If you don’t like the word message then insert your mission in it’s place…but since we’re talking communication, let’s stick with message.

Your message is you.  It is what you stand for.  It is what you believe in.  It is what others look to you for and what makes them come back for more and sets you apart from everyone in your field.

In the policing world, the message is simple.  We stand for good vs evil, right vs wrong.  Locking up the bad people, protecting the good people and ensuring everyone is treated fairly.  That is our BRAND.  That is our MESSAGE.  That is what is most important.

Think about this in your field or industry.

Confusion:

If something happens that goes against what you stand for (your message / your brand) it creates a confusion in your mission and how others perceive you.

  • Why was the financial collapse so deep?  It wasn’t any content that killed the faith in our banks.  It was the fact we trusted them to make the right financial decisions and they didn’t.  The message and the reality collided.
  • Why have people lost faith in politicians? They sell us a big sell on fairness, equality, promises and what’s best for the people and then we find corruption, lies and personal gain at the cost of the public.  The message and the reality collided.
  • Why is it such huge news when a police officer gets arrested for drunk driving?  Because the event went completely against the message.  Why is it that the average everyday person who gets charged with drunk driving doesn’t receive any attention in the media?  Probably because that person didn’t build their public message on always doing right.

If you think about some of the biggest screw-ups that have been caused by errant tweets, or poorly timed posts, it hasn’t been the content of the post that has caused the problem…it’s been the message confusion that has at the heart of the matter.

Here’s my favourite that is specific to social.  “We are committed to offering the public a greater way to engage and talk with the police.”  Then when it hits the fan, or a tough question is posed or someone points a finger the response is deafening silence.  You can’t have it both ways.  All you do is create a confused message.  “We’ll listen and talk, but on our terms.”  This is wrong and damages the overall message. 

  • If you can’t respond for legal reasons: Say so.
  • If you can’t respond because you don’t have all the facts yet: Say so.
  • If it’s a statement that has been made that is just wrong: Say so.

The worst thing you can do is leave the conversation or ignore your public when you have said you are there for them.

This goes way beyond just the social space.  This goes into your everyday dealings and operations.

For policing, everything from the way we speak to people, parking illegally (yes we’re exempt, but that only goes so far with the public perception), getting arrested or charged are all ways in which we confuse our message.

Yes, we represent all society has to offer. The good, the bad, but we are held to a higher standard and we rightfully need to live up to that standard.

So is content king, or is it the son of the king…THE MESSAGE.

Posted in Branding, Communication | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Fantastic Friday

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Tim Burrows

Today’s Fantastic Friday #BeGreat spotlight is on an organization that I just learned about a couple of weeks ago.  Yesterday, I had the chance to meet a few key people from the organization and hear more about what they are all about.

Let me introduce you to, The REMIX Project. (The following is from their website)…

The Remix Project was created in order to help level the playing field for young people from disadvantaged, marginalized and under served communities. Our programs and services serve youth who are trying to enter into the creative industries or further their formal education; The REMIX Project provides top-notch alternative, creative, educational programs, facilitators and facilities. Our mission is to help refine the raw talents of young people from across the GTA in order to help them find success as participants define it and on their own terms.

The REMIX Project

Vision Statement:

The Remix Project’s vision is to become an internationally recognized destination for recruiters from post-secondary institutions and corporations looking for fresh and exciting young talent and leaders.

Why This Needs To Happen:

Many of our young people have been a disengaged by the system available to them and often believe that a path along the straight and narrow is not an option to them. It is critical for a project of this nature to get off the ground so that youth from Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods (and beyond) know that it IS possible to be a master of their own destiny and understand that there is a place for them in our society offering more than a job at a call centre or in a jail cell.

In terms of a lasting impact, we project the results of this program will help to create a more diverse and skilled workforce in Toronto’s thriving cultural and creative industries. With each successful placement of a young person in the creative or cultural economy we make it that much easier for the next young person to be taken seriously and given a chance.

To me, The REMIX Project is simply people who have the resources and skills to help those that have the skills, but not the resources or the opportunities that they so desperately need and mentors to guide the way for those who may not see it.

Naturally, the good will and time of people only goes so far especially in the growth of young minds and great talents.

Please, if you can, consider how you can help this amazing and needed project.

Become an Ambassador

Donation page

The REMIX Project can be found on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Thanks to Jugnoo for presenting Social Mix 2012 which benefited The REMIX Project.

Social Mix presented by Jugnoo

 

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Overcoming Information Overload

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Tim Burrows

Just take a look at the Twitter stream, Facebook news feed, YouTube uploads, Blog posts for a couple of minutes and you’ll see that in a very short period of time, regardless of the platform, an incredible amount of information is being created, consumed, traded and shared.

Add into that mix of bombardment, the information that you actually want in the form of RSS feeds, subscriptions and searches and that amount of information is compounded. In fact, in the video, “Social Media @ Work“, there is a quote that the average person receives more information in one issue of the New York Times than they received in a lifetime 100 years ago.  I’d argue, you can get that in 5 minutes using social media.

For your social media use, information can be used to:

  • educate
  • inform
  • raise awareness
  • support positions

When you use and search for the information you are looking for, you are curating content primarily for your own consumption (educate, support positions) or to share that content (all of the above).

Data Fog

Three Challenges

  1. Finding the information that you want.
  2. Providing information that can be used.
  3. Staying power of your information

Finding – there are multiple ways to find information that you are looking for.  Search, feeds, subscriptions, keywords will always play a role in you being able to find the content that you are looking for to assist you in sharing great information (content).

Providing – Not all the content you curate will be sharable for many reasons.  Geographical challenges, bias, wrong groups to associate with, etc, may all hamper the pure sharing. But, if there is information within the content you found that is valuable then re-frame it, take the pieces you can use out and make it work for your needs. Creating content is a great way to share your information, although more time consuming, it tailor made.

Staying Power – THIS IS THE BIG CHALLENGE!

How do you take a great message, campaign or post and make it last in an environment that has caused the everyday person to achieve the attention span of a gnat?

You have to make it great content that is sharable.  You have to make it timely so that it isn’t just for the now, but also for the future and you have to make it ‘high value’.

I don’t expect that a “Good Morning” message will be shared and receive lots of comments, although surprisingly they do.  I do expect that a message of life saving value should be shared.  You want to get that ‘high value’ message shared?  Ensure that the value is on the end user…your audience.

Your audience won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  Show them you care by always making them the priority and they’ll not only appreciate the information more, but they will share it.  Don’t just throw it out once, push the information a few times over a couple of days.  Your audience that is present and their attention is always changing so don’t worry about spamming them.

Remember that everyone out there in the social space that isn’t refining the information attack is going to suffer from some degree of overload.  You need to combat that with making sure that the information / content you provide is great and worth taking a look at and it isn’t just adding to the noise.

You can also use tips to assist in ensuring the information is sharable. Here are some Twitter Tips for getting re-tweeted.

8 Tips Overcome Overload

  1. Refine your searches to get exactly what you are looking for.
  2. Subscribe to information streams that you are interested in.
  3. Don’t subscribe in a reader service and email.
  4. Create lists on Twitter.
  5. Subscribe to lists on Twitter.
  6. Subscribe to particular feeds on Facebook.
  7. Create Interest Lists on Facebook.
  8. Un-subscribe to anything you haven’t looked at in a week or more.

 

 

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Fantastic Friday

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Tim Burrows

(The Super Saturday Edition)

Part 1 – This past week in Toronto has been a particularly tough one for some of our communities and because of that the whole city has felt the impact.

A “community party” turned into a shooting gallery where 2 people were killed and several others were injured.  Then consecutive homicides occurred in other parts of the city along with a few more shootings sprinkled in to top it all off.  If we add in what just happened in Aurora Colorado, this has been a brutal week in the name of gun violence.

If this was about the homicides and shootings, it sure wouldn’t make for much of a Fantastic Friday post.  Gladly, this isn’t about death…it’s about life.

In the wake of all the devastation are lives of those impacted by the cowardly acts of others. We never give much thought to these people…the focus is always on the dead and injured.

Who do the living turn to?  Who do the survivors talk to about what happened and who supports them?

In Toronto, there is an incredible organization who is there for the victims, Victim Services.

This a volunteer organization who answers the call no matter what time of day or night tragedy strikes.  Like many volunteer organizations, they rely on the charity of others to help make their organizations work.

Today, a group of police officers and volunteers left Toronto in the early morning hours to head to the other side of Lake Ontario to paddle canoes to Toronto in an effort to raise funds for Victim Services Toronto.  Here is the story as told by Jack Boland of the Toronto Sun.

TORONTO – A group of Toronto Police officers hope that by putting paddle to water the ripple effect will grow into $10,000 to help victims of crime.

Staff-Insp. Heinz Kuck, of North Toronto’s 53 division, came up with the idea of traversing Lake Ontario in an outrigger canoe from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Mississauga five years ago. His simple aim was to help raise money for Victim Services Toronto.

The “Make Waves For Victims” team will be anchored by seven police officers from Kuck’s division, a member of the victim services office and coach Peter Buday — who is a former Canadian national kayaking champion and founder and head coach of Outrigger Performance Advantage.

They have been training for five months doing dry-land and in-water sessions for their July 21, 51.5-km trek across the lake — challenging wind, waves and whatever is thrown at them until they arrive at the Mississauga Canoe Club.

“For the past two months we have been out on the water,” said Kuck. “We have been relentlessly training to see that we can deal with the rigours of the Lake Ontario crossing.”

Kuck said the difference between doing the lake crossing as opposed to a 5- or 10-K run or a bike ride was to “draw the imagination of the public,” and inspire both people and corporate partners to donate money to their website, makewaves.myevent.com.

“The goal is $10,000, but we want to smash that and go way beyond it,” said Kuck.

Crossing Lake Ontario by canoe is daunting — the nine-member team can only have six paddlers in the outrigger at one time, so a support boat carrying the rest of the team will follow behind.

After 25 to 30 minutes paddlers from the support boat switch with those in the outrigger, alternating several times during the 51.5-km trek.

Insp. Joanna Beaven said one of the many challenges has been when the teammates switch.

“We are practising our exchanges from the boat (outrigger) to the water and then back into the boat,” said Bevan. “The water is very cold so our extremities, our feet, our hands, we started losing feeling in them. So that was the biggest challenge, trying to get back into the boat.”

Tracey Finlay, the only civilian member of the team, representing Victim Services Toronto, said, “What we are doing … pales in comparison to what victims have to go through,” said Finlay.

Victim Services estimated it helped close to 20,000 members of the public last year.

“So symbolically we are out there to stand in for the victims and what we are doing is challenging ourselves,” Finlay said.

Victim Services Toronto helps provide emotional and practical support to victims of crime, victims of tragedy and people who are in extreme grief or need at the time of a crisis

“We are trying to get some recognition out there as to what victims go through,” said Finlay, as the sun glinted off her sunglasses after the early morning training session.

“It is heartbreaking to see what children, families, communities have to go through. So it’s nice to see what an organization like this can (do) and step up to the plate,” she said.

In the time leading up to the July 21 crossing Kuck and his team will be visiting schools, malls and community centres to engage in various fund raising efforts. In one they will stage races against members of the public using indoor paddle machines.

They want the Make Waves program to become more than just a fund raiser — they hope it will raise awareness of Victim Services Toronto and encourage victims to call for help whenever it’s needed.

jack.boland@sunmedia.ca

You can follow their progress here.

Part 2 – Shortly after the Danzig Street Shooting, I received a message asking if I could help promote the East Scarborough Boys and Girls Club.  The reason?  They were offering free grief counselling to the community affected by the shooting.

Part 3 – A bomb scare occurred in the town of Barrie, Ontario this week which caused the evacuation of a few dozen homes for almost a week.  What do people do when they can’t go to their homes for that kind of period of time?  Who do they turn to?  The Canadian Red Cross stepped up and they were there to assist helping with the needs of the many, put out by the action of others.

So this weeks Fantastic Friday goes to The Volunteer Spirit and those people who go out of their way to help others.

To learn more about these groups, please go to their pages below.

Victim Services Toronto

Canadian Red Cross

East Scarborough Boys and Girls Club

To donate to these three groups please go to their donation pages below.

Victim Services Toronto

Canadian Red Cross

East Scarborough Boys and Girls Club (no donation page available – this is their volunteer page.)

 

 

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Engagement / Investigation #CopChat ep. 4

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Tim Burrows

“Oops, I better watch what I tweet. @CityPolice just followed me!”

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012, 9PM Eastern

We’ve seen that tweet more than a couple of times. It’s almost always done in jest, but there’s a grain of truth to it.  Judges have reminded us, along with their plaintiffs and defendants, that nothing they post publicly can be considered private.  And no matter how friendly tweeting police are, they are, after all, still the police.

So what’s the balance? In our July 18 #copchat, we’ll be talking about:

  • Social media’s role in an investigation. What’s the difference between passive intelligence or evidence collection, and active “pretexting” — engaging suspects in conversation in an effort to learn more about them, their activities and whereabouts?
  • The difference between “pretexting” and everyday public engagement. How can PIOs (public information officers) set the right boundaries, and help the public to trust their efforts?
  • How PIOs handle engagement when they know the people they’re engaging with are can be under active investigation. How can they effectively separate themselves from investigative activities? Do they ever need to get involved — and if so, under what circumstances?
  • How investigators can remain sensitive to PIOs’ engagement efforts — and to public sensibilities about privacy, police authority and their own role as potential assistance in an investigation.
  • What the public should (and should not) expect from PIOs, investigators, and themselves.
  • What the public can do to assist when engagement presents the opportunity for an investigative lead.

Dont’ think you’re a PIO? If you’re socially engaged for your agency, you are one.

As always, we look forward to seeing you Wednesday night at 9 ET!

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The best social media users really suck

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Tim Burrows

It’s a compliment…really!

To best social users really suck…sorry but it needs to be said.

The more I see the cream rising to the top, the more obvious it is that the best people in the world of anything really suck!

Honestly, the greater you want to become at anything, the more you need to suck in the beginning.  And as your greatness increases, the more you have to keep sucking at it.

I had the great honour of spending time with Walter Gretzky and naturally being a fan of the “Great One”, hockey and the first father of hockey, I sucked in everything he had to say.  He told me an amazing story about the “Great One”.  When Wayne was little he would lay in front of the TV on Saturday night with a pencil and a piece of paper.  He drew the ice surface on the paper and then for the whole game he would track on the paper where the puck went during the game.

You don’t become this great unless you suck first

The “Grateful One” (Walter, thanks for the name @RLavigne42 (Robert Lavigne)), had no idea what it was when the game was over.  Wayne explained that by figuring out where the puck was most often in a game, he could predict where it would be and therefore, he could position himself to be there before the puck. Let’s face it, Gretzky revolutionized hockey with his play.  He wasn’t the fastest or the biggest, but he was the smartest.

Wayne sucked in information that most of us never would have considered.  Then he went out and executed and the rest is history.  He never stopped learning either. He never stopped sucking in information to make sure he stayed on top of his game.  Wayne had a natural talent, but he didn’t rely on it.  He also developed his brain for the game and studied how the movement of the puck, his opponents influenced the play.

Now every professional athlete reviews tape, coverage’s, game plans before they suit up.  They suck in all the information they can to be at the top of their game.

Policing is the exact same.  When we are young in our careers we suck in all the information we can.  We study movements, watch our opponents, interact with our community and study how the great coppers play their role.  After a few years many get comfortable and go through the motions of doing the job they now well, while others go beyond and become great.  They continue to suck in everything they can to be the best at their game.

The best players I have seen in the social media game suck in all the information they can about their craft.  They don’t just tweet, post, share and comment.  They research, learn, study and refine how they do things.  You can’t live a life of theory though,  you need to execute what you learn and analyze your results.

If you wan to be great at anything you need to suck first.

In practice you could put it into play this way.  You want to provide your community a crime prevention tip through a Facebook post about securing your house when you’re in the back yard.  The post could be something like this…

Remember if you’re entertaining in your backyard or doing yard work, make sure to lock your windows and doors and close your garage.  You don’t want to provide the bad people with an easy way into your life.

That’s good but why not really suck first.  Go through your crime reports and look for how many homes in your community have been entered using tools of opportunity from a shed or garage, or how many entries were right through an open window or door.

Don’t be a victim of opportunity

Take a picture of a home with a front facing garage door wide open.  Suck in as much information as YOU can about your post before you make it and provide greater content for your audience.  Let your audience know how easy it is to become a victim with stats that can hit home.

Be great…suck!

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Fantastic Friday

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Tim Burrows

This weeks Fantastic Friday hits really close to home for anyone who ever visited the Jamie Bell Adventure Playground in Toronto’s High Park.

Last winter, the incredible play structure was destroyed by fire.  A fire that was set by an arsonist.  As much as I want to say a few things about the type of person that would destroy a landmark that has been the place of very happy memories for so many people; I won’t.  Fantastic Friday focuses on the greatest of humanity…not the other side.

This week, a group of volunteers put their hard hats on, grabbed their hammers, lifted lumber and when the dust settled, the Jamie Bell Adventure Playground had risen from the ashes and was re-born.

The Make it Right Team

When the playground was destroyed it hit so many people felt the impact.   Our children had all played on the incredible structure.  Now, because of a dedicated community, an army of volunteers and some amazing people and organizations, others will continue to build memories with their families that will last a life time.

Slides a plenty

Canadian Tire, Lowes, Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association, Toronto Fire Services, Toronto Police Service, Toronto Emergency Medical Services, High Park Nature Society and Colborne Lodge Museum all played a hand in the week that saw the re-birth of a legend.

Naturally, someone had to orchestrate all of this and be the expert on site for the construction process and that was Mike Holmes and the team from Make-It-Right.

But, this post wouldn’t be complete without recognizing the final group that took part in the re-build…the community volunteers.

So this weeks Fantastic Friday goes to everyone who dedicated their time, resources, sweat and commitment to an incredible event.  To all of those who chose to #BeGreat!

Thank you for being great!

Thank you!

Here are a few links to news stories and the organization of the event.

www.toronto.ca/parks/pdf/featured-parks/jamiebell.pdf

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/1223148–high-park-s-jamie-bell-adventure-playground-rises-from-the-ashes

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/13/high-park-playground-replaces-one-destroyed-by-arson

Photo Credits: @Make_It_Right Twitter Account

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Cop Chat ep. 3

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Tim Burrows

July 11th, 2012 #copchat ep. 3

Wednesday nights, 9pm Eastern

I’ve had a few really interesting conversations on Twitter during the last week that have led me to the topic for this week’s episode.

Authenticity

Big word, many meanings and very troubling execution.  There is a challenge for police and for the community is to be authentic in the space of social media.  Think about the meanings that can be applied to being authentic:

  1. of undisputed origin or authorship; genuine: an authentic signature
  2. accurate in representation of the facts; trustworthy; reliable: an authentic account
  3. (of deed of other document) duly executed, any necessary legal formalities having been complied with

Now think about the challenges that are created.  Does an account that has no name, no personal picture and no contact information authentic?  On its face, not at all.  There is no real undisputed origin.

Police are often asked questions that they simply can’t give a full detailed response to for reasons of privacy, legislation or court proceedings.  When they say that they can’t answer the question or give what seems like a “corporate” response they can be accused of not being trustworthy, not giving all the facts or not being reliable.

Finally, how can there be any guarantee of full legal formalities being complied with? The public can say whatever they want with no real ramifications and the police can’t.  If the public doesn’t give a full account of events, no big deal and they certainly won’t be called out for being dishonest, but spin the tables and the case certainly won’t be the same.

So, on #copchat tomorrow night will talk about these issues and what can be done to understand the challenges and see where the questions and answers will lead us.

Hope to see you there!!

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