Emergency Notification & Social Media

If you want to know how social media and emergency notification practices are intersecting, look no further than the Denver Police Department. Denver, through the leadership of Lieutenant Matthew Murray, has committed to setting an industry example in utilizing social media to inform the public.

The department began Twittering early this summer. Tweets include descriptions of incidents and response calls, answered questions from citizens, and interesting tidbits of unusual laws on the books. The department also manages a MySpace page and a YouTube channel that features on-the-scene video and interviews with Denver officers (entitled "The Blue and You").

The department believes this is an important approach for disseminating information quickly without media filters. In an article on Denver Westword, Lieutenant Murray said, ""We can get stuff out really fast -- and stuff the media might not be that interested in. We can get a crime-scene video out [on MySpace] in seconds, and link it to Twitter."

Taking this concept to the next level we can imagine an even greater interaction between public safety and citizens through these new media. In a recent conversation with Mike Byrne, former Captain of the New York Fire Department and Microsoft executive, we discussed his vision for two-way social media communications where citizens on the scene of an event have methods for reporting information through these channels (even before responders arrive). In turn, public safety officials have methods for analyzing and interpreting these data in real-time (all part of next generation 9-1-1). The result: overall situational awareness is enhanced and a more complete common operating picture is produced.

Social media efforts will not take the place of a comprehensive, multi-modal notification program any time soon (for example, only 1400 people are currently following Denver Police on Twitter, so the reach is currently very limited). However, public safety agencies should begin understanding these technologies and considering the required resources--treating them as a complementary means of communicating.

We applaud the efforts of forward-thinking departments such as Denver who continue to develop these pervasive, entertainment-oriented applications into tools for protecting the public. There will be many more interesting developments ahead.

Best regards,

Lorin