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ConnectedCOPS Awards 2013: Finalists for Leadership Award

Home » ConnectedCOPS Awards 2013: Finalists for Leadership Award

Connected Cops, Lauri Stevens, Pam Armstrong | 530 comments

ConnectedCOPS Leadership Award

This award is given to an officer up to and including the rank of Sergeant (or its international equivalent) at any worldwide law enforcement agency who has singularly demonstrated exemplary and selfless leadership in the use of social media to improve public safety and/or enhance his or her agency’s community engagement and reputation. This individual is creative, innovative and fearless and shares what s/he knows by mentoring others, participating in public speaking opportunities and leading by example.

The finalists in the Leadership are risk takers. In most cases, these are the officers who have lead the way for their agency to become a social agency. They have overcome the many obstacles that often present themselves along the way. This category is one of the most competitive in the awards program. The finalists are all true leaders of their profession. Each one of them personifies the true spirit of this award.

There are three finalists in this category:

Officer Ryan Grelle, Denton, TX Police
Officer Grelle is one of Texas’ strongest proponents of social media in law enforcement. He not only has lead his own agency to social media prowess, but serves as a mentor and role model to others in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and beyond. Officer Grelle also took the reigns to recruit dozens of U.S. police departments to participate in the first Global Police Tweet-a-thon which eventually included over 200 agencies around the world.

Sergeant Christopher Cook, Arlington, TX Police
Sergeant Cook has lead the Arlington Police Department social media program for the past two years. In that time he has taken the department from having only a very small Facebook existence to being a social media powerhouse fully integrating Twitter, YouTube, Nixle a weekly news video and growing the APD Facebook presence tens time over. Cook has a keen understanding of the importance of good content and citizen engagement and instills those beliefs in staff members.

Deputy James Hart, Sacramento County Sheriff
In eight months Deputy Hart has brought his Sheriff’s Office from the “dark ages” of paper press release, wanted and missing persons posters to one that fully integrates social media. His work has transformed the way the department serves and engages the community. Hart has used social media to solve unsolved crimes, reunite missing people with their families and inform citizens about crime occurring, major incidents, recruitment opportunities and what it would be like to be a Deputy Sheriff.

Finalists in the other awards categories will be announced throughout this week on this blog. Check back to see the finalists for the Social Media Campaign Award tomorrow. Winners will be announced September 25th at The SMILE Conference™ in Omaha, Nebraska.

Finalists previously announced:

The ConnectedCOPS Awards were created by LAwS Communications with the intent of recognizing the good work being done by individual officers and law enforcement agencies with social media. The international law enforcement community will be considered for these awards. Any officer or agency anywhere in the world is eligible.

 

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