Sharing Precinct News, Photos & Crime Tips
Three local precinct commanders have taken to Twitter to share news, photos and other information with the public as part of a pilot NYPD social media program launched last week.
Official Twitter accounts for the 83rd Precinct in Bushwick, the 106th Precinct in Ozone Park and the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills went online last Tuesday, Apr. 15. Two Manhattan commands-the 25th Precinct and Public Service Area 6-were also chosen to participate in the pilot program.
According to published reports, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton indicated he would expand the program to every NYPD precinct if it proves effective. Bratton launched his own Twitter account (@CommissBratton) just after taking office this year and has over 9,000 followers.
The NYPD (@NYPDnews) maintains its own Twitter account and regularly posts crime information, including photos and videos of wanted criminals.
The top of each precinct’s Twitter page features the name and photo of the precinct’s commander and a link to the city’s social Media Customer Use Policy. The policy notes that “comments made by the public to these sites are reviewed and, while comments will not be edited by city personnel, a comment may be deleted if it violates the comment policy.”
Anyone may comment on a precinct Twitter page, but according to the policy, comments must be related to the topic for the specific page, such as crime or quality-of-life problems in the precinct’s given area. No one may post comments promoting businesses or supporting or attacking elected officials or those campaigning for public office.
The city’s social media policy also bars the use of obscene, threatening or harassing language, personal attacks of any kind and offensive comments targeting or disparaging a person’s ethnicity, race, age, religious affiliation, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
Twitter (www.twitter.com) lets users post pieces of information 140 characters or less, including links to photos, videos and other websites. The at (@) symbol signifies an account user’s handle, while the hashtag (#) is used to categorize topics. Account holders “follow” each other to receive regular updates.
So far, the program appears to be popular with area residents, as the 83rd, 106th and 112th Precincts each have over 200 followers on their respective Twitter pages.
Even so, the NYPD suffered a public relations nightmare on Tuesday, Apr. 22, when-in an attempt to garner positive feedback with the hashtag #myNYPD from followers-the department’s Twitter page was inundated with retweeted photos of alleged police brutality, accompanied by the hashtag.
“The NYPD is creating new ways to communicate effectively with the community,” Deputy Chief Kim Royster said in an email issued hours after the #myNYPD fiasco. “Twitter provides an open forum for an uncensored exchange and this is an open dialogue good for our city.”
Here’s a summary of some items the three precincts posted on Twitter last week:
– 83rd Precinct (@NYPD83Pct, covering Bushwick and Ridgewood, Brooklyn)-Deputy Inspector Anthony Tasso sought tips from the public regarding last Thursday’s (Apr. 17) murder at a Bushwick bodega. The commander posted a video of the incident and urged residents to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
(Editor’s note: Details on the homicide can be found on Page 3.)
Additionally, the officer advised followers that a reported suspicious package located last Wednesday afternoon near the Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues subway station was found to be innocuous.
Tasso also took part in a popular Twitter trend-Throwback Thursday (#tbt)-by posting a decades-old image of an NYPD patrol car responding to a Bushwick fire. He also posted a more recent photo of the 83rd Precinct Youth Council’s “Cops and Kids” athletic program.
Last Friday, the commander also responded to a resident’s posted concerns about speeding vehicles on St. Nicholas Avenue on the Brooklyn/Queens border in Ridgewood. “We can take a look and see what we can do to help,” Tasso wrote, then encouraged the user to call the 83rd Precinct Community Affairs Unit “to discuss the problem further.”
– 106th Precinct (@NYPD106Pct, covering Hamilton Beach, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park and South Richmond Hill)-Deputy Inspector Jeffrey Schiff was, fittingly, the first NYPD commander to tweet last week.
“I’M BACK!” he wrote, noting that he returned to Twitter after a oneyear hiatus. While commander of Brooklyn’s 76th Precinct last year, his original Twitter account was disabled after he posted information warning the public about the release of two career criminals from prison.
Last week, Schiff relayed reminders about an Ozone Tudor Civic Association meeting, news that “36% of all stolen #106Pct autos this year were unsecured” and retweeted the NYPD’s official photo of a One Police Plaza ceremony honoring the late Det. Dennis Guerra, who died earlier this month while attempting a rescue at a Coney Island apartment house fire.
Schiff also used Twitter to promote the precinct’s blood drive last Good Friday.
– 112th Precinct (@NYPD112Pct, covering Forest Hills and Rego Park)-Capt. Thomas J. Conforti additionally took to Twitter to solicit donors for his precinct’s blood drive on Monday morning. He also shared with followers news that the precinct experienced a day without major felonies.
“Crime update: Happy to report that there were no major crime incidents reported in #112Pct in the past 24 hours,” the commander tweeted last Thursday. The comment was retweeted (forwarded) to the NYPD’s official Twitter account.
Conforti also posted plenty of images of 112th Precinct activities, including the morning roll call briefing of day shift officers before they went out on tour. He also published photos of officers stationed at the Rego Park Jewish Center as part of the NYPD’s counterterrorism effort during Passover and a graffiti cleanup on 64th Avenue held last Wednesday by the 112th Precinct youth officers and the command’s Explorers program.
Editor’s note: The Times Newsweekly (@timesnewsweekly), which launched its account earlier this year, is following the 83rd, 106th and 112th Precincts on Twitter. In addition to print coverage, we will retweet important news as the precincts share them. Follow our account to receive those updates.
