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Bellevue Police Attend Social Media Training

The Bellevue Police Department has been recognized as a leader when it comes to law enforcement use of social media to reach out to and interact with citizens. Two members of the team just traveled to Washington D.C. to attend training and lectures to further their expertise even further.

BPDÂ’s Lieutenant Bob Wood and Community Oriented Policing Coordinator Jayme Krueger spent three days at The SMILE Conference. SMILE, in this case, means "Social Media In Law Enforcement". At the conference, they heard from law officers of all levels from street-level investigators all the way to Chiefs of Police, as well as communications professionals, on the best practices in the field. Krueger said that even though BPD is using social media tools admirably, she came away realizing the department could do even more, "I hope to expand what we are doing and incorporate what I have learned at the SMILE Conference. Social Media is changing all the time and we need to make sure we are changing with it."

Lt Bob Wood is one of the departmentÂ’s most active users of social media, but said the training he received at SMILE has opened his eyes to new possibilities, "Attending this training gave me the confidence and desire to dive headfirst into the social media world. The tools and resources made available at this training will allow our department to communicate with a wide variety of citizens who until now may not have had easy access to information provided by the department."

The real beneficiaries are Bellevue citizens who will continue to enjoy open communication with their police officers. The BPD continuously strives to develop its community policing program by exploring and adopting whatever tools are available to enhance communications with the community.

Photo: Jayme Krueger and Lt Wood at the top of the Washington Memorial during an after-hours law-enforcement only tour.