Local police recruitment ads being rejected by social media sites
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WATERBURY, Connecticut (WFSB) — The Connecticut Police Chief’s Association says its attempt to recruit is being stifled.
This comes after social media platforms rejected a number of ads about an upcoming entry exam.
The vendor they use, policeapp.com, is appealing the decision.
The president of the CPCA says this really hurts them because these days, most of their recruiting is on social media.
CPCA’s president, Police Chief Darren Stewart, said they were alerted about this just a couple of days ago.
Policeapp.com tried to boost some of its ads, but platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram blocked all of it.
Boosting is when someone pays to get their post a bigger audience. Chief Stewart is hopeful this gets turned around quickly.
“Most of the departments now either have a Facebook account or an online presence to interact with your communities and also to get the information out about openings and recruitment efforts,” Chief Stewart said.
He’s worried that they’ll miss out on some top recruits.
“We don’t know, at this point, we’re just saying, ‘hey, our recruitment efforts, we’re doing the best we can to get the word out, we have openings, etcetera,’ but now that’s being shut down on us at this point,” Chief Stewart said.
Chief Stewart says police in other states are having similar issues.
A social media expert says this is a sign that platforms are keeping a closer eye on what’s being posted.
Quinnipiac University journalism professor Rich Hanley says platforms have been ramping up content reviews the last few years, growing the algorithms to catch any hint of a violation.
“It’s long been a critique of social media platforms, they didn’t do enough in this area of content review in moderation,” Hanley said.
Hanley says it’s something we should get used to, especially in light of President Donald Trump’s suspensions from various platforms.
“The sort of blurred line between what’s permissible under the terms and conditions and what’s not will disappear to become a bright line. They will make that line bright by dramatically increasing their enforcement,” Hanley said.
While the app will continue to post recruitment posts, Chief Stewart recommends people head to the CPCA’s website if they’re interested in becoming an officer.
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