My daughter/editor Jenny asked me recently who was doing the posts for the Sheriff’s Office Facebook site. She said it was obvious things were different and better, with the posts adding a lot more humor, cute remarks, emojis—you name it, and they were making an obvious effort to improve their posts and get more views.
Can’t blame them. People have always been interested in what the police are doing. Surveys for decades have shown that crime news is the number two most read thing in newspapers. I know, you are wondering what number one is—make a few guesses and I’ll tell you at the end of this column.
As for the Facebook and social media sites for law enforcement, most smaller departments probably do almost nothing since it requires a lot of time and effort. Even the bigger sites struggle to have people who put REAL interesting content into their posts.
But you can’t say that about the Slidell Police Department presence on social media where Det. Daniel Seuzeneau, also the Public Information Officer, took the site and made it something special. And the end result, besides the fact he has over 114,000 followers, is that it actually has been a huge help to catching criminals.
Seuzeneau apparently saw the value in building a strong following on social media, and that includes their web site on the Internet, Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter and even TikTok! (I’m sure some of the older readers are wondering what the heck I am talking about.)
But to give credit where credit is due, and Seuzeneau actually asked me to not name him after I told him I was going to mention all of this (sorry Detective!), it is pretty impressive to see what the relatively small force at the Slidell Police Department has with its social media presence.
It’s not verified, but I think the SPD might be leading the nation in followers among police agencies with their cool 114K. I looked up other departments and most had somewhere around 18,000, maybe 30,000 as a very large number. But that’s understandable, since it takes a lot of time to make the site super interesting.
Seuzeneau, however, obviously decided it was important. And the result is that when there is a suspect at large for a local crime he posts the picture of the person online as fast as possible, and he always gets a lot of tips about who the person is. Without doubt, the site has been a critical tool to law enforcement in Slidell.
But our man went a little further than report the news. He posts everything about traffic problems, funny pictures of officers at parades, shots of the K-9 dogs with their handlers (always a popular one!), and then makes a little fun at some of the officers on the force. It has added up to a huge number of followers, which is pretty amazing to see over 114,000 when you know the area only has about 45,000 residents in all of eastern St. Tammany.
Some of you might also remember that the Slidell PD got picked for the national LivePD show that aired for years. I can’t help but think it never would have happened without Seuzeneau’s interesting site.
As for the Sheriff’s Office, I wanted to give a little credit to whoever is doing it. I know that Sgt. Suzanne Carboni has been the main public information officer there for several years now and she does a great job handling press releases and getting information I need. Then, Sgt. Carli Messina came on board in the PIO department, so I hear the two women are now sharing the work to put up FB posts.
Whoever decided to work Facebook a little more made a smart decision because at the end of the day, as I do believe Seuzeneau realized, it is a law enforcement tool that has become pretty great for Slidell. No doubt our S.O. women see that too, and I can tell you their site is worth visiting and adding as a favorite.
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Answer to the question of the “Most read thing in all newspapers—for decades.”
Obituaries.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.