Metropolitan Police Department: Email Discussion Group Policy

Office of Community Outreach
Executive Office of the Chief of Police
Metropolitan Police Department
300 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 5080
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 727-4218 office
(202)727-9524 fax

The Metropolitan Police Department began utilizing Yahoo discussion groups five years ago in March 2004. Since then, thousands of members of the community have joined the various sites. An online group was set up in all seven districts and the area patrolled by the third district substation officers. In addition to those eight groups, there are three specialized groups. Those groups include:

Purpose
The purpose of the police-community Yahoo email discussion groups is to allow police officials an online venue for collecting and sharing information with members of their individual police districts, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

The discussion groups aid in:

increasing awareness,
reducing crime and the fear of crime, and
improving community relations.

The method of communication allows residents and officials to communicate back and forth around the clock, which eliminated concerns from previous years of not knowing which tour of duty members could call their local officials to report concerns. Police officials and watch commanders are able to forward alerts for public safety; information about community meetings; changes to staff; and details about upcoming events. The site is also used to connect other city officials with the concerns that can improve the quality of life in local neighborhoods. For example, staff from the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations (MOCRS) enjoy a successful relationship with the community by keeping members informed of Operation Fix-Its. They also are able to log in complaints and concerns from the community to generate ideas for future projects and to serve as a liaison with other service-providing agencies to address matters of concern.

Who Can Join?
Anyone is welcomed to join and maintain membership with the police-community email discussion group, as long as the member’s participation is in compliance with the overall goals of the group (see “Purpose” listed below). People who sign up for membership a particular district email list group are expected to be stakeholders of that specific district.

The number one reason users are denied membership is because the user is found to be a spammer that is not affiliated with the District of Columbia. Other reasons include past history of spamming or abusing the sites, a history of promoting products or services that are not related to public safety or a user name or email address that is offensive or misleading (e.g., policechief @yahoo.com)

MPD also reserves the rights to determine other restrictions, based on action that can cause membership to decline if allowed to continue, like back and forth banter or debates that are subject to cause each member of the group to receive 10 or messages in a single day on a heated topic, where most members believe that the exchange of words fall under the “agree to disagree” category.