The Voice of the Dallas Police Department Has Some Things to Say about Violence in Ferguson

By Sky Chadde Fri., Aug. 15 2014 at 7:00 AM

Twitter

Geron's profile pic.

In Ferguson, Missouri, this week, as police officers began to look more like soldiers, and as the lack of transparency about the Mike Brown shooting continued, a police officer in Dallas took to his smartphone.

Major Max Geron heads the Dallas Police Department's Media Relations Unit, Community Affairs and Planning Unit. As Chief David Brown has emphasized to officers the importance of social media, Geron, who joined Twitter in December 2013, has taken to tweeting several times a day. Along with some personal stuff, he tweets pictures from crime scenes, links to police statements and updates on developing situations. (He also tweets the times of press conferences, which is very useful to reporters.) Even though his bio reads, "Tweets are my own," for all intents and purposes, he is the department's public face. And, Wednesday, he made his feelings known about #Ferguson.

He started the day off with this:

Sharpton politics aside, call for transparency, impartial investigation, and calm, entirely appropriate #ferguson: http://t.co/HlqLNj0flT
— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) August 13, 2014

Then, he got into a quick conversation with a UT student.

@MacMcCannTX check my feed Mac. They're behind this thing and the best they can do now is be honest and transparent and that's just a start
— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) August 14, 2014

@MacMcCannTX studies show too that by donning the riot gear, deindividuation occurs and the ofcrs tend to behave differently @PhilZimbardo
— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) August 14, 2014

Later, he started tweeting about the "best practices" of police officers during protests like the ones in Ferguson. A so-called "best practice," Geron said, is having police in riot gear if there's a riot. However, based on media reports, it appeared that a show of force was one of the catalysts that led to the escalation of violence in the city, he said.

"Best Practices" likely to push chaos in #ferguson. Transparency and honest dialog need to happen. Policing requires consent of the people
— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) August 14, 2014

@chrislhayes police militarization in #Ferguson is proving counterproductive. Solution is deescalation, communication and transparency
— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) August 14, 2014

@rachaelmcbRD thank you for the support and interaction. I feel for the officers and citizens in Ferguson. Hope for peace and justice.
— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) August 14, 2014

@Montel_Williams #Ferguson PD using "best practices" & need to deescalate. Protest is complex-adaptive envronmnt reuiring diffrnt solution
— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) August 14, 2014

His thoughts on the matter continued on Thursday.

@conor64 i sincerely hope you're wrong.
— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) August 14, 2014

Geron, emphasizing his views on the matter were academic and not DPD policy, is big on police transparency. The community trusts officers more when a department is transparent. Based on media reports, he said Thursday, "it appears the Ferguson Police Department does not have the trust of the community."

Also, social media is an important tool for a police department, Geron said. It can humanize an institution. On Monday, after a 24 hours that saw two officers kill two suspects, a "sovereign citizen" shoot at police and reports of shots fired near a college campus, Geron tweeted from the DPD's official account:

And with everything else going on Robin Williams dies. <sigh> Looong day. #riprobinwilliams Take care of each other.
— Dallas Police Depart (@DallasPD) August 12, 2014

He says departments that only tweet crime statistics are missing a huge opportunity. And not just in terms of humanizing a department, but also providing departments the ability to give the public information on a crime that might not make the news due to TV's time constraints, Geron said.

Both Geron and Unfair Park looked for a Ferguson Police Department Twitter account, but couldn't fine one. But not having one is understandable for a small town. The St. Louis County Police Department does, and it's mostly been used to say the department can't release any more information because its investigation of the shooting is ongoing.

Send your story tips to the author, Sky Chadde.

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Catbird

how does one become a major in the dpd? does this mean there are also minors? reminds me of major major in "catch 22"...

bvckvs topcommenter

Fortunately, the state has a Democrat governor who was willing to step in and put a stop to the militants in Ferguson's police department.

Meanwhile, we've got Perry sending National Guardsmen to the border to try to escalate the situation there.

AA75201

Amazing (shaking my head) - DPD has a Major, who is making $90K+ a year to supervise a full squad of paid Police Officers to "tweet" - all in the name of "humanizing" DPD to the Citizens. What a slap in the face to the hard working Officers of the Department who actually try to help the Citizens in need. For these "non-working" Public Information Officers, it's all fun & games for them as they try to "out-tweet" the media, while doing nothing to help solve crimes. A true travesty & a waste of taxpayer dollars- in my opinion......

durkamcdurk

That's all fine and dandy, but what about the MRAPs that the DPD have? You know, the ones they like to park outside the HQ on Lamar? What about all of the military hardware they possess because of 'terrorism' and 'murica'? This is all just words from a nobody until they start sending that shit back. The same exact thing happening in Ferguson could very well happen in Dallas.

Sharon_Moreanus topcommenter

What no selfies DPD?

TheCredibleHulk topcommenter

Good to see outreach like this from the PD.

Too often the official reaction seems to be an automatic "circle-the-wagons" mentality that inflames already heated relations btwn citizens and police.

DavidWilliams

Major Geron was also quoted - at length - by Radley Balko in his Thursday article,

After Ferguson, how should police respond to protests?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/08/14/after-ferguson-how-should-police-respond-to-protests/

TheRuddSki topcommenter

Things are not always as they appear...

On Wednesday, an Al-Jazeera crew got caught in the tear gas. St. Charles County SWAT Team members located the journalists, put them into their armored car and then disassembled their equipment and loaded it for them.

http://fox2now.com/2014/08/14/despite-reports-swat-team-helped-al-jazeera-reporters-did-not-take-their-equipment/

Charlie

@bvckvs Now we have the county prosecutor(who has a tight relationship with the county police) complaining about how the county cops were removed from the area and how the state police(who calmed shit the fuck down) were incapable. The chief releasing UNRELATED video of the teen, no incident report, no other information than the officer's name we should have known Saturday night, Sunday at the latest. The entire situation has been a shit show for the Ferguson and the County PDs and they just can't stop showing their asses

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@AA75201

What a slap in the face to the hard working Officers of the Department who actually try to help the Citizens in need.

Have you seen any indication the rank-and-file feel slapped in the face by this public outreach program?

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@Charlie

Fortunately, MO has a democrat governor guided by On High from Gay Head, who has expressed displeasure and is demanding investigations of possible processes to develop a process, and he will not rest until these processes lead to a sustainable, stable and democratic Ferguson!

So you can expect Ferguson to fall any day now, unexpectedly.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/16/us/missouri-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Charlie

@TheRuddSki No we have a Dem governor who has strategically ignored the black population(going as far as to oppose school desegregation) to gain the yokel crowd in the Ozarks. Nixon is no friend to the black community.