I just heard on the news that the King County (WA) Sheriff’s Department is considering a policy banning deputies from disclosing on social media sites that they are law enforcement officers. This, in the wake of reports of an Albuquerque police officer who listed his occupation as ‘Human waste disposal’. On 8 February (some time after the officer posted his occupation) the officer was involved in a fatal on-duty shooting. The officer is now back on the job.
Do you think that a government agency should be able to ban what people post on social media sites, including that a person works for them?
I can think of any number of things someone may post that results in bad publicity for his employer. A private company is, I believe, within its rights to terminate that person’s employment. (cf. Aflac insurance terminating Gilbert Gottfried.) But can a government agency actually ban a person from posting anything? ISTM there’s a First Amendment issue there. Certainly the officer in Albuquerque put the Department in a bad light, and there is no doubt a policy against bringing bad publicity to it. I could understand if an officer were to be fired for violating such a policy. (And indeed, I’d like to know who the bad apples are.) But if I understood the NWCN blurb correctly, KCSD are considering banning deputies from even stating that they are LEOs. This doesn’t seem right.
Albuquerque PD apparently has has such a policy. KCSD does not have a policy right now, instead warning deputies to be careful what they post, but are considering a similar ban.
My gf has the extreme opposite policy at work and it has pissed her off. She works in advertising, and the agency requires people at her level and above to participate in Facebook.
In my work we have been both encouraged to use social media but discouraged to engage in certain behaviors which may shed a poor light on the company.
I work in local TV news.
i prefer to do very little social media, and to keep my posting and behavior in line with the maxims that ‘everyone knows who I am’ and ‘would you say it to their face?’
If you are in law enforcement I think it’s quite reasonable to ask that you not list this on your facebook profile as it opens you and your department up for scrutiny based on whatever nonsense you wish to post. Most people will behave, but there’s always an asshole in any group or organization, and having that asshole’s assholism attached to your organization via employment, and linked to gazillions of people via the web can be problematic.
Other people like advertising agencies and real estate companies actively encourage their people to be as social media active as possible. In these businesses your success is predicated in part on how you manage your personal & professional identity and how you client base regards you, so being a real jackass is not all that common as people will not wish to do business with you.
But should an officer (or other government official) be banned from saying who he works for? Yes, there is a risk of giving the agency a black eye; but it strikes me that banning mention of employment violates the person’s right to free speech and association since it is a government agency. (Albeit in this case a county government and not federal.) I think that if a government employee makes remarks detrimental to the agency, he can be disciplined. ‘Asked to resign’, as it were. But I don’t think employees of government agencies should be banned from saying where they work. And if they are assholes, it’s better they hoist themselves with their own petards.
Government certainly could ban employees from posting certain things. I would guess that no police force would allow officers to post something that would compromise an ongoing investigation. They probably can’t release identities of undercover officers. They might not want people posting their regular patrol patterns or anything like that.
I think a lot may depend on the police union contract. I am not sure that the department can just outright sack an officer for making idiotic internet posts because it probably isn’t covered. Until that contract comes up for negotiation, its probably better to issue a blanket ban on saying you are a police officer or anything else about the job. The union head may even agree to this in the short term until everyone can get their arms around the concept. But my guess is that they will include a very specific and detailed social media policy in the next agreement. They can participate and say they are cops, but they will be on a short leash and are subject to monitoring.
Having socialized with a few law enforcement types the stuff that comes out of their mouths after a few drinks after hours is often reflects extremely cynical and negative attitudes about various categories of people and the state of mankind in general. This may, or may not, be an innate hazard of the job, but I can see how it could be dangerous for public relations if these attitudes were bandied about in a public forum.
The rule, as many departments have, should be that they may be held accountable for saying or posting things that put the department in a bad light. But I don’t think that they should be prohibited merely from stating that they work for Hooterville P.D. That isn’t inflammatory.
Most LEO’s don’t blatantly state what they do on social media sites, anyway. Certainly not on sites like Facebook, where they are searchable and profiles are paired with pictures. The smartest ones don’t, anyway.
Many officers make up terms for their jobs like “street cleaner” or similar because they don’t like to come right out and say “I’m a cop.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek way to get a point across without being too obvious. There are more and less tactful ways to manage this, of course. Cops tend to be too wary of people and too accustomed to general dislike for them to be very comfortable with simple disclosure. I’m surprised more departments don’t have rules like this.
Many, if not all, law enforcement agencies regulate what their officers can do and wear (or not wear) off duty. This is not much different. For smart cops, I doubt it will be much of a change.
I don’t even tell people that I’ve known for years what I do for a living until I’ve gotten a read on them if I run into them after a break. My Facebook posts occasionally imply that I work in law enforcement, but I never come right out and say it. Hell, I have family members that don’t know I’m a cop and I never plan to tell them. If my department comes up with a policy like this, I won’t even blink.