Police on Facebook? ‘Like,’ but with rules

Officer Sergio Guadarrama is one of Fort Worth’s very best.

In many ways, he exemplifies the future of neighborhood policing. Armed with new digital tools and social media, he posts crime updates on Facebook pages for Fairmount and Ryan Place.

Residents are understandably devoted to Guadarrama. They love tagging a nearby officer directly on Facebook.

Yet city administrators understandably have concerns. Guadarrama is not only ahead of his time, but he is also ahead of department policies and training.

Police officers and city employees are not taught media law. It is easy for anyone to risk running afoul of libel or privacy laws in publishing information that identifies or stereotypes a suspect, particularly a juvenile.

It is up to Chief Joel Fitzgerald to set rules. For now, the result is that Guadarrama’s social media activity is more limited, and a supervisor may have to review posts.

But city officials should avoid favoring the more restricted groups hosted by California-based Nextdoor.com. That is promoting one business over another.

Police should post wherever the residents will read. Set some light-handed rules to be fair and minimize risk, but don’t stifle officers using new tools to achieve public safety goals.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Police on Facebook? ‘Like,’ but with rules."