Recently 72 officers in Philadelphia were placed on desk duty because of social media posts on their personal sites. This brings up a lot of questions, but also lessons we can share with our students.
For all of the details of the case, this NPR article is a great starting point: 72 Philadelphia Police Officers Placed On Desk Duty Over Offensive Social Media Posts.
Here are some discussion questions worth asking your students about this issue:
- Should police officers and other criminal justice practitioners have social media accounts? Why or why not?
- Does this infringe on the officer’s first amendment rights?
- Should police/judges/correctional officers/etc., be held to different standards than those in other careers?
All of this should lead to fruitful conversation. But, ultimately I think the lessons for our students and their PERSONAL accounts are what is most important.
Class Activity
- Have students break into groups or pairs and examine one another’s social media accounts to see if students can find posts that, upon reflection, might cause them problems if they were currently working in law enforcement.
- Have students examine their OWN social media accounts for things that may be questionable or may be taken out of context.
- Find obviously questionable social media accounts and have students examine right and wrong.
Remind students that ALL social media accounts may be accessed: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
Remember that all examples can be taken differently by different individuals. It is important to discuss examples AS A GROUP so that students can start to see how the same thing can be viewed differently by different individuals.
Posts worth discussing:
- Pictures of young people (or anyone) drinking.
- Numerous NEGATIVE social media posts on the same account.
- Sharing too much about your personal life on social media.
- Politicians’ use of social media.
What examples would you add to this list? Do you have any specific pictures? Posts?
