NEW YORK — As city officials work to soften the police department’s image and change how officers engage with citizens through reforms and training, part of the effort is happening online.
The nation’s largest police department, once a slow adopter of social media, has created a blog and punched up Facebook use. And there are now 101 Twitter accounts departmentwide after top brass were sent to an in-house “Twitter school.”
“We’ve given the commanding officers the tools, the guidelines and the training and, most importantly … the responsibility to do the work,” said Zachary Tumin, deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives. “Twitter is part of that work.”
New York had largely eschewed the Internet until recently, while other, smaller departments embraced it. Boston used Twitter to rebut rumors and spread updates after the Boston Marathon bombings. The Denver department has more than 20,000 likes on Facebook since joining in 2012. Toronto’s police have more than 300 accounts, and officers must attend three days of training. In Dalton, Ga., the department’s blog tells readers about emergencies and other news and provides information about police — including praise and suspensions.
In the past year, the NYPD’s public relations unit developed a blog.
