The police want to be your BFF

REMINGTON — From a small downtown office in a small Fauquier County town, the Remington Police Department is utilizing the latest online tools to connect with the community.

The department uses Facebook, Twitter and Nixle, a free online service geared toward government agencies. Sgt. Charles Proffitt handles the department’s online presence.

“The chief wanted more community involvement,” said Proffitt, one of six officers in the department.

Chief Thomas Beecherl said although they’re small, the department stays busy, frequently assisting the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office and any other agency that calls upon them.

Proffitt said when they began to use the online social networking sites, there were only a handful of other law enforcement agencies in Virginia that were doing the same thing. All of them — Richmond and Portsmouth to name a few — were much larger than Remington, home to about 700 people, according to the latest census estimates.

Right now, about 500 people are Facebook friends with the department, and 220 are following on Twitter, a Web site that allows users to post short messages. Those who “follow” a particular person or organization can choose to have a notification sent to their cell phones as soon as an update is posted.

Proffitt said he tries to update the department’s online presence at least twice a week, or as needed to convey any information they deem important to public safety.

Town spokesman Wally Bunker and Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Corey Byers said that neither agency plans to use those online tools at this time.

But Marcus Messner, a mass communications professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the point where public safety and government agencies will rely on online means to communicate in real time directly to an audience is already here.

“If you just look at the growth rate of Facebook and Twitter, I think that point is here,” Messner said. “You have to be engaged on those platforms. Overall it should not be your only communication channel, but if you are not doing it at this point, you’re behind, even in a smaller community.”

How do people feel about being online buddies with a public agency? Messner, who researches the latest online social networking trends and topics, said most people don’t seem to mind, because the choice is up to them.

“You can promote your service, but you cannot force your message,” he said.

“As a citizen, you have to make the actual step to follow somebody or to become a fan of Facebook,” he continued, adding that people are always free to disengage from their online connections.

On the downside, Messner acknowledged that the so-called digital divide continues to grow between those who regularly network on the Web and those who don’t. At the same time, he said, those who choose not to engage will probably get along just fine, continuing to get the information they need or want through television, radio, newspapers and old-fashioned word-of-mouth.

That’s why Messner said any organization using online tools must continue to keep its traditional channels of communication open and up to date.