close

Bridgeville police chief uses Facebook page to inform, entertain community

By Dave Zuchowski for The Almanac writer@thealmanac.Net 4 min read
article image -

Whatever your opinion is about Facebook, Bridgeville police Chief Chad King is finding useful and entertaining ways to make the popular social networking service work for him and his police department.

As police chief, King has discovered that Facebook can be a helpful tool for him and his officers. Besides posting information on things like traffic alerts, road construction projects, power outages and utility interruptions, he’s also been able to help link lost pets to their owners by posting photos of missing dogs and cats to the department’s Facebook account.

More importantly, he’s used Facebook to help solve crimes and reports a 100 percent success rate when he uses social media to post surveillance photos of suspects online.

“I’ve solved at least a half-dozen felony crimes via Facebook,” he said. “People like to read this sort of thing and get involved.”

He’s also used Facebook to locate the owner of a pair of lost dentures, which leads to a lighter aspect of his postings. For a small community of about 5,300 residents, he’s managed to build the department’s Facebook page to 13,582 followers, some from as far away as the England, Australia and Nigeria, along with 12,704 likes. A lot of these hefty numbers come from the fact that King is a self-admitted jokester.

The only one in the department who posts to the department’s Facebook page, King has caught the eye of those with a taste for wit and humor, including local news reporters who sometimes share his posts in their broadcasts.

An April 11 post poked fun at a BMX biker who posted a video on a social media app of himself doing tricks off borough police cars, only to be caught once the video went viral.

“So you wanted to be a social media superstar, huh???” King wrote on Facebook. “Well, you came to the right place, cause I’ll make you famous…”

One post on April 27 was a lengthy account of urine samples taken as a result of arresting two people for shoplifting. The posting includes a photo of the test container wrapped in duct tape and sitting in front of one of his patrolman’s computers.

Another cheekier posting dated April 20 shows a calculator with the numbers 911 and a message that reads “When you tryin to call the police on 420. But they aren’t answering…” The suggestion is that, if you’re high on marijuana and need emergency help, try using a phone instead of a calculator.

His most popular postings occurred March 21, a day with many traffic accidents in the Pittsburgh area due to a nor’easter and lots of snow that read “Today’s Traffic Report — Stay Home.” It’s followed by a map covered with red lines and the words “Everyone Crashed.” The post was shared 14,400 times.

In private conversations, King said he likes to be witty and is known among friends for his sense of humor. His jocularity seems to have caught on with other members of the force who share a playful camaraderie when the situation allows.

“With the job we have, you have to find some humor,” he said. “My most favorite quote is that ‘We generally don’t deal with people who are having the best day of their life.'”

King started posting departmental items to Facebook in late 2015. Early on, he decided to add a bit of humor and levity to his postings from time to time. Since then, he tries to post to the account at least once a week, with most of the humorous postings inspired by actual events that involved the police department.

He’s also concerned with feedback he gets from his readers.

“I try to keep track of and read all the comments made to the postings by members of the community,” he said.

With a hefty following, some of his audience members have suggested he start up a blog, but he insists that police duties keep him busy and he just doesn’t have the time. He’s also noticing that other police departments are starting to include a bit of humor in their own Facebook postings.

“I don’t want to say that we were the first to do this,” he said. “Basically, we’re doing this just because we want to make people laugh a little.”

To check out King’s postings, search Bridgeville Police Department on Facebook.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today