Pros and cons of police departments using social media
Communication is a vital aspect in a police department toward the achieving of missions, visions, and values of the City of Richland. Proper communication ensures that strategies and policies aimed at achieving the objectives and goals of the police are laid down and implemented in the most appropriate way. In this regard, the police departments across the globe have adopted various types and modes of communication to enhance planning and coordination in police policies and activities with the aim of achieving the set values, visions and missions. In this case, as a police in the Richland Police Department, I am tasked with exploring and reporting on pros and cons of using social media in communication and in supporting the values, missions, and visions of the City of Richland.
Pros of using social media by the police department
To start with, there are pros associated with the use of social media by the police in regard to meeting the set values, missions, and visions. In this respect, social media keeps the police and the members of the public in constant interaction and communication on issues relating to security and other social affairs. Therefore, social media cultivates a conducive environment for the police to work hand in hand with the members of the public. The use of social media in the course of carrying out policing activities ensures that core values of Richland City that include excellence, teamwork, and integrity are achieved. In this case, the police work hand in hand with the public thus enhancing the team. Equally important, using social media to communicate to the members of the public enhances sincerity, accountability, loyalty honesty and respect thus achieving the integrity core value. Also, constant communication through social media by the police ensure adherence to services, commitment, performance, responsiveness, and commitment thus meeting the excellent value. Therefore, the set values of excellence, teamwork and integrity values are achieved by interaction and communication between the members of the public and the police on the social media platforms such as Facebook.
Consequently, social media and especially Facebook are used as a tool for fighting crimes across the Richland City. The police highlight various insecurity issues taking place within the area as well as posting issues of interests such as crime trends, areas with insecurity as well as other relevant information. On the other hand, the members of the public are able to report various crimes and threats to security taking place in their locality. The members of the public are in a position to post pictures and information on various issues that affect the security of their area. Additionally, the police and the members of the public are able to hold discussions and give opinions in the form of comments on various ways of handling various issues in security issues. In this respect, handling security collectively between the public and the police enables the Richland in meeting the vision of Richland. Using social media as a tool to fight insecurity ensures that the people in the society remain as a family with the ability to handle various economic activities within their locality. Therefore, using social media as a tool of fighting crime enables the people of Richland to achieve their vision of remaining as a family and conducting their day to day economic activities towards the economic stability of their area.
Furthermore, the use of social media by the police in addressing social issues enhances alertness and consciousness on issues of security. The fact that people are always reminded and sharing on security issues ensures that people as we as the police will swiftly respond to any security issues that arise in the course of their day to day operations. In this respect, people and the police have different responsibilities and obligations in addressing criminal issues and they act accordingly to handle crime. In this case, the Richland police department the alertness and consciousness on security issues enables the police to attain their mission in regard to maintains security. The mission of the City of Richland entails safeguarding public and property and enhancing quality life maintaining the environment, health, and economy. Therefore, social media enhances security consciousness and alertness to ensure the safety of people and property as well as maintaining quality of life which is a mission of the Richland city.
Cons of using social media by the police department
Moreover, there are cons that are associated with police departments using social media in regard to meeting the missions, vision, and values of the City of Richland. In this case, social media is subject to subject to misuse by the police and their relatives thus adversely affecting the core values that need to be maintained in the city on matters of security. In this case, security officers can post thoughts and opinion on current affairs thus contradicting the values of integrity, teamwork, and excellence in delivering. Therefore, the police and their family members can post messages that contradict policies and laws of the land thus affecting the core values.
More so, police involvement in social media can adversely affect security when the sensitive and secret information is made public. Working behind the scenes is an effective way of making investigations and apprehending criminals at the right time. On posting issues that are under investigation enables criminals to cover their tracks since they closely follow the police department social media pages. Posting sensitive and issues under investigation negatively affect the vision of the City of Richland that entails reinforcing society and ensuring there is a conducive environment for business operations. Exposing sensitive information and issues under investigation on social media enables a crime to thrive thus affecting economic activities in the region.
Finally, legal obstacles hinder the police involvement in social media thus acting as barriers to enhance policing activities using social media. Acts such as the Freedom of information and Data protection Acts make it hard for police to share information regarding criminals on social media. In this case, the Acts demand that private and confidential information needs to be treated and handled as private. This hinders police from posting issues of interest to the public due to legal constraints. This fact adversely affects the mission of the Richland City that calls for protection of the public and property as well as ensuring that proper policing and sharing of information is prevented.
In conclusion, the police presence in social media has both pros and cons regarding achieving the set missions, visions, and core values. In this regard, the pros associated with police using social media include enhancing communication and interaction; media is used as a tool for fighting crime and enhancing alertness and consciousness on matters of security. On the other hand, the cons include misuse of social media by police and families, exposing sensitive information and legal barriers associated with handling information. Therefore, police involvement has pros and cons that affect the achievement of values, missions, and visions of the city of Richland. In this case, the police and the people need to maximize on the pros while at the same time minimizing the cons.

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