Law enforcementNYPD issues strict guidelines for use of social media by officers

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has issued strict guidelines for employees using social media, and ordered its employees  to take a second look at their profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites to ensure they conform to the new rules.

In the past, officers faced almost no restrictions on their postings to social media sites, with many officers  posting pictures of themselves in  uniform and list their occupation as NYPD.

“Such an order is not unexpected,” Roy Richter, president of the Captains Endowment Association, the union that represents high-ranking officers, told the New York Times. “The only surprise is that the order was not put out before now.”

The Times reports that  online activity recently put the New York Fire Department in the news when the fire commissioner’s son and another member of the department posted racially inflammatory remarks on their twitter pages. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said his order for the new rules has been in the works for a while.

The order, which is 3-pages long, stated that posting photos of other officers, tagging them in photos, or posting photos of themselves in uniform on social media sites, could land officers in serious trouble. Officers and members of the force are also not allowed to post pictures of crime scenes, witness statements, or other non-public information gained through work as a police officer.

Officers are also not allowed to engage witnesses, victims, or defense lawyers on social media sites and are also not allowed to “friend or “follow” minors encountered on the job.

Violations of the order can result in dismissal and other disciplinary action, and officers with social media pages were ordered to “immediately ensure that their personal social media site is reviewed and in compliance with this order.”

In the past, social media incidents within the NYPD included officers posting inflammatory remarks on Facebook about the city’s annual West Indian Day Parade. Last year a Brooklyn precinct commander posted photographs of men being released from custody on a Twitter account maintained by the precinct.

Kelly told the Times that the intent of the order was to avoid confusion between the department’s official statements on social media and personal opinions and statements by officers.

“One of the issues in a complex business like this is that people say they’re part of an organization, this organization, and make a statement that the public can interpret as policy,” Kelly said. “You can’t run an organization like that.”

Kelly also said that the department has not assigned anyone to look through the social pages of officers and other members of the department. Instead, actions will be taken once a violation is made known within the department.

Other departments around the country have done the same. The Detroit Police Department issued its guidelines two years ago in response to an officer posting on his Facebook page photos of a suspect wielding a machete. Later that year the Albuquerque Police also barred department members from identifying themselves on social media shortly after an officer, involved in a fatal police shooting, was seen on Facebook describing his job as “human waste disposal.”