Ryder: Nassau police increasing social media game

The Nassau County Police Department is stepping up its social media game.

Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder announced Monday the department would increase activity on its social media accounts — pushing out real-time intelligence — in hopes that the public will help police prevent and solve crimes.

“We need to have a better reach in our community,” said Ryder at a news conference at police headquarters in Mineola. “You can private message us with anything you want to give us.”

The department will feature #mugshotmonday — a photo gallery featuring eight people wanted by the police — and #tipstuesday, which will feature photos, videos or other clues from unsolved crime on its social media.

The department’s handle — @nassaucountyPD — has approximately 8,893 followers on Twitter, 54,174 on Facebook, and just 11 followers on Instagram, as of Monday morning.

Ryder said the prime age of heavy social media users — roughly those in their teens and 20s — mirrors not only those who commit crimes, but also those addicted to opioids. And the majority of threats of violence at schools are made on social media, making it a venue that police need to monitor, especially in the wake of last month’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed.

According to Ryder, the number of threats of violence against schools in Nassau County this year stands at 42 — nearly eclipsing the 2015 total of 44. In 2016, there were 73 and 76 in 2017, Ryder said. Police investigated three such threats on Sunday, Ryder said, but they were deemed not credible.

“The Wantagh mamas, the Plainedge moms, the Syosset dads — all of those groups throughout the county — we need to interact,” said Ryder, ticking off the names of social media groups. “You hear it from your children, you hear what’s going on in the schools, you hear [about] those that are selling drugs in your neighborhood. You need to work with us and be part of our fight toward reducing crime, reducing opiates, and getting toward the point where we can hopefully stop any school threat that occurs here in Nassau County.”

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said the county needs to stand “firmly in the 21st century” to reach young people and others who get their news from smartphones, rather than traditional media.

“Our administration, in its desire to be nimble and firmly in the 21st century, are moving our information to this,” said Curran, a former newspaper reporter, holding a smartphone. “On Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook, where the eyeballs are going. We want to reach young people, we want to get information to them. This is how we reach them.”

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.