Check Your Facebook.

(This is a response to an article in the New York Times titled "Police Lesson: Social Network Tools Have Two Edges." The author was Erica Goode. You can find the article here.)

Social media networks are great tools for keeping in touch with friends and sharing experiences. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and more are used all around the world. People use them for leisure and for work. Businesses have now begun adopting them to promote coupons and their items or services. Before being hired, bosses will often check the future employee's social media site to look at their pictures and comments. Although these sites are great tools for fun, they can also bring harm. 


Police forces have learned this lesson the hard way. Although social media networks can be valuable assets for law enforcement agencies, the networks can also get them into trouble. Officer Trey Economidy of the Albuerque police listed his occupation on Facebook as "human waste disposal." This reference shocked his department and took away from the value of human life. He was immediately placed on desk duty. Economidy said, "It was extremely inappropriate and a lapse of judgement on my part."

Image via Google

A careless posting can put an officer in danger. Criminals can find the officers' pages and decipher where they will be and when. Also, defense lawyers can look through social networking sites for evidence that could impeach a police officer's testimony. Once something is on the Internet, it is in cyberspace forever. 


Police departments across the country are hurrying to implement regulations on what officers can and cannot do online. The president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Mark A. Marshall said, "This is something that all the police chiefs around the country, if you’re not dealing with it, you better deal with it." Many new regulations include prohibitions against posting any statements that could discredit or reflect badly on a department, illustrating reckless behavior, ideas that disparage people based on race, religion or sexual orientation and posting crime scene photos. 


A spokesman for the State Police First Sgt. David Bursten said, “Don’t do or say anything that you wouldn’t be proud to have your mother see or hear.”


I have always been told to be careful of what I put on Facebook because anyone can see it. My future bosses will most likely check it or search me on Google, and I do not want any incriminating pictures or quotes. I had never thought of social networking sites damaging police reputation. The article made me think about the potential danger of officers in the field. Crime scene investigation information could easily be leaked on these social networking sites. Although it is hard to put laws on what people say outside of the work field, it is important to put regulations on police officers. These regulations would be not only for their safety, but also the safety of the victims. Information is so easily passed along in this age of technology. 


The article itself was full of quotes from various resources which made it more credible. Loaded with examples of mess-ups in the police force, it reinforced the idea that a solution must be made to fix this problem. The police force must step up and make some changes before someone gets hurt.