Albuquerque Police learned recently how a few words on Facebook can become a national story. An officer involved in an on-duty shooting became the story when a reporter discovered the officers Facebook profile listed his occupation as human waste disposal.

London Metropolitan Police learned this lesson the hard way in 2005. Their lack of adequate response to the tragic police chase of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes caused international outrage and disdain.

PHOENIX – A theory and reality check. In theory, your police department could ce controversy, scandal, crisis or some other media-grabbing situation. The reality is news media inquiries, Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, YouTube videos, phones ringing, email / text messages and everybody demanding answers. Who will help you navigate that wave of media attention? If you don’t feel prepared for that eventuality, here’s a name to write down: Chris Ryan. Mr. Ryan provides real-time police media relations and crisis management services to law enforcement agencies worldwide. It’s a specialty and rare in the world of public relations consulting.

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Mr. de Menezes came out of a block of flats with a communal entrance that police had been watching. He was mistaken for London Bomber, Hussain Osman and pursued by officers into the Stockwell tube station. After running onto a train, Jean was shot dead by police in front of shocked passengers. Reports conducted by the police and news media contradicted each other. After a lengthy trial none of the officers were charged; though pressure was put on Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, to resign.

Let’s ce it—we live in an age of cell phone videos and hidden cameras. Every action a police officer performs on or off-duty can potentially be recorded, misinterpreted and posted on YouTube before anyone knows what happened. The response your department makes to the resulting media scrutiny will shape public impression for years. So don’t gamble with your agency’s public image; get the help you need to manage the situation.

Police are using social media, like Facebook, to inform and provide a forum for open discussion and two communications. Through applications like “Nixle”, Boca Raton send targeted alerts and advisories direct to residents via short messages services (SMS) over mobile phones. Chief Dan Alexander’s Twitter account is busy and on a regular basis blogs to his residents.

Everyday police executives, supervisors,new york escort public information officers (PIO) and social media officers are inundated with Facebook and Twitter posts, blogs, comments, photos and videos. Most of the time, little or no action is required but other times a comment, photo or short video will lead hours of work in response.

Contact: Mr. Ryan at or email

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PHOENIX – Police, sheriffs and public safety agencies increasingly use social media to communicate with the public and news media. New programs, apps and technologies are popping up everywhere. Many departments feel like social media is a game of whack-a-mole for police.

PHOENIX -- Police with shrinking resources are increasingly using social media to their advantage. Strategically speaking, it is more efficient to prevent crime than to deal with its consequences. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google provide more opportunity to do just that. Police Social Media allows law enforcement agencies to be more informed and enhance their prevention activities.An example of such forward thinking is the “VIPER” (Visibility, Intelligence, Partnerships, Education and Resources) project of the Boca Raton Police Department. Through social media they have enhanced communication within their community by not only educating them with safety and crime prevention tips, Social Media, but informing them with traffic and local crime reports. A tweeting police department is truly engaged with the people they proPolice Social Mediatect.

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LONDON -- When you think of law enforcement, police media relations are probably not the first thing that comes to mind. However when a scandal breaks, knowledge and experience in media relations is crucial to addressing the issue. “It’s important to handle the situation directly, quickly and effectively without becoming defensive or argumentative,” says Police Media Relations expert Chris Ryan. “Burying your head in the sand only works for ostridges,” he added.