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2017 Annual Report • Police Department • St. Anthony Village, Minnesota <br /> <br /> <br />21 | P a g e <br /> <br />XI. Social Media <br />PREPARED BY CAPTAIN JEFF SPIESS <br />During 2017, the St. Anthony Police Department dove into the social media world. It began with <br />careful consideration as to which platforms to utilize and the best methods for interacting with <br />our community. We began with an internet based survey, which was disseminated to the <br />community and sought feedback on their social media platform of choice and the type of <br />content they found most beneficial. Department personnel also reached out to law enforcement <br />agencies both locally and nationally to learn from those that have had success in using social <br />media to partner with their communities. We also received technical assistance through the US <br />Department of Justice, which provided a social media expert to assist in the technical aspects of <br />initializing and maintaining a government social media site. <br />In September, we launched three police department social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, and <br />Instagram. All of these sites are used a little differently from one another with the hopes of <br />reaching more people in our community. Some of the uses have included, reporting to the <br />community on activities of the police department, asking for the <br />public’s help in identifying crime suspects, providing public <br />service-type announcements, and in identifying owners of lost <br />property or animals. We have also used our platform to connect <br />through entertainment, which has included an occasional <br />“Throwback Thursday,” in which old photos of the city and <br />police department are shared, and an occasional “Virtual Ride <br />Along.” We have received a lot of positive feedback and have <br />seen that many social media users have elected to follow the St. <br />Anthony Police Department on the various social media <br />platforms. <br />In 2018, we plan to widen our following and progress with the advancement that is occurring in <br />social media. One way of doing this and connecting better with the community is through an <br />increased use of video content. Every patrol officer and every supervisor has access to a smart <br />phone with a recording feature and we look forward to replacing some of our pictures and <br />social media written posts with video of officers. This will provide for a more intimate <br />experience in which community members will have a more “real” interaction with our officers.