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The Philosophy of Facebook

Posted February 05, 2015 10:00 pm

By Pete Spitler The Herald Tribune

In the past two months, Facebook posts and comments have made headlines in local media and have created debate on how behavior on the social media site can be interpreted and prosecuted.

The Chester Police Department is currently upgrading its social networking policies after implementing such a policy in October.

Chester's policy provides guidelines for the regulation and balancing of employee speech and expression with the needs of the department, according to Chief Ryan Coffey.

The CPD maintains its own Facebook page and includes the social media activities of its personnel as part of off-duty conduct.

"Back in October, we implemented a social networking policy that was very basic," Coffey said. "It didn't offer a whole lot of advice regarding conduct.

"We recommend certain things our staff stays away from in regard to statements that could be interpreted as harmful or biast."

Coffey said either he or CPD Officer Bobby Helmers handles the posts on the official department page.

"We have general guidelines on what we post, but everything comes through me before we post it," Coffey said.

Each year, Coffey establishes a policy review committee. Those serving on the review committee are volunteers comprised of CPD staff members.

Those individuals get an opportunity to weigh in on any and all policies, procedures and written orders before they are submitted to city government officials and the city's risk management representatives for further review.

"This upgraded (social media) version has been given to our internal policy review committee and they have given it their blessing," Coffey said.

The newer version will address speech and expression and perception is a key component of social media.

"Due to the unique nature of police work and influence associated with the law enforcement profession, it is necessary that employees of this department be subject to certain reasonable limitations on their speech and expression," Coffey said. "I might add that I feel our employees know this and they seem to understand that their positions with the department carry these responsibilities."

Randolph County Sheriff Shannon Wolff said his office is also in the process of upgrading its policies.

"We do have somewhat of a (social media) policy," said Wolff, who said he manages his office's Facebook page. "We are currently reviewing all our policies and procedures and that is one of them.

"I think with Facebook etiquette, you have to monitor that."

Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker said Facebook posts can be used as evidence in a criminal trial.

"In the criminal realm, we absolutely use them," he said. "We've used Facebook posts in drug cases and it's certainly a different tool that we use."

Walker also commented on how it is determined who created a specific post on social media in an era in which fraudulent accounts are possible.

"There are ways we are able to determine origination," he said. "Exactly how they do it, is beyond me, but it can and has been done."

Law enforcement officials also pointed out the positive uses of Facebook, such as getting important information out to the public relatively easily.

Asked if teachers, in general, should be Facebook friends with the students they teach, Chester District No. 139 Superintendent Chris Diddlebock gave his opinion.

"It's a bad idea, but you're in a small town and No. 1, you're going to have people related to other people," he said. "I'm not a fan of social media because a lot of bad things come out of it."

Diddlebock said he does not have a personal Facebook page and, like Coffey, noted context and perception make a big difference.

"Sometimes you don't understand how things may be construed on that forum," Diddlebock said. "With adults, as well as young people, once you put it down it's not going away. It's there in 1's and 0's forever.

"It's something adults need to realize that as well as kids."

The Herald Tribune posted on its Facebook page the question of whether teachers, in general, should have the students they teach as Facebook friends and the responses were varied.

Some responses including calling the practice a "conflict of interest," while others pointed to situational aspects, like if a student's behavior or grades were changing, as a reason for maintaining students as friends.

A few also had questions regarding the professionalism of it.

"If you're a coach and you're friends with the parents, that may be an easy way to make contact," Diddlebock said. "When you're dealing with the kids, you want to watch yourself."

Follow the debate online at www.facebook.com/randolphcountyheraldtribune.

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