Two girls were getting ice cream when they looked up from their mother’s phone and recognized the woman sitting next to them.
She had been reported missing. They had just seen her photo in an Irvine Police Department social media post — a connection that helped bring the search to an end, PIO Kyle Oldoerp told attendees at IACP 2026.
It was a practical example of what departments hope to accomplish online: getting useful information in front of someone who can act on it. But earning that attention starts long before a person goes missing or an emergency unfolds.
Oldoerp explored that work in “From ‘Ten-Four, Good Buddy’ to ‘LOL’: Using Humor and Relatability to Connect with the Community on Social Media.” In a separate session, “Short-Form Video Works: What Law Enforcement Needs to Remember in a Scroll-first World,” Fairfax County Police Department’s Deputy Director of Communications Katie Watts and Officer Ingrid Palencia-Membreno shared how their agency uses video to reach and educate viewers.
Both sessions emphasized showing everyday police work, writing conversationally and engaging with the people watching.
Here are seven ways departments can put those ideas to work.
1. Start with what you want residents to do
A traffic safety reminder can be easy to scroll past. A video showing a driver nearly causing a collision gives viewers a reason to stop.
After a rise in pedestrian fatalities tied to right turns, Fairfax County built a safe right turn campaign around body camera and in-car footage of officers citing drivers who turned through crosswalks with people in them.
The department also posted a blog and a talking-head video, Watts said. The enforcement footage showed viewers the danger and how officers addressed it.
“So remember, we’re not changing the message. We’re just trying to change the delivery,” Palencia-Membreno said.
Before choosing a video, caption or trend, decide what the post should accomplish. Do you want residents to watch for pedestrians? Register their bicycles? Submit information about a case?
Oldoerp described how a bicycle registration reminder received little attention, while a post about a bicycle theft arrest that included the same reminder performed considerably better.
Put it to work: Choose one recurring concern in your community. Write a sentence describing what residents should understand or do after seeing your post. Make that action easy to find in the post.
2. Show residents the work they rarely see
Both agencies rely on officers to flag incidents for potential social media posts. At Irvine, officers text or email Oldoerp case numbers. At Fairfax County, officers, supervisors and captains send event numbers so the communications team can find the footage. Watts initially sought suggestions from traffic officers she knew. More officers began contributing after seeing the videos and viewers’ responses.
Finding the footage still takes work. Fairfax County PD searches its video system by offense, favoring violations that are easy to see on screen, such as red light, stop sign and lane change violations. Oldoerp said he tells officers before he uses their footage and hasn’t been turned down in five years.
Irvine connects its enforcement content through a recurring message: “Don’t commit crime in Irvine.” Oldoerp described repeating the hashtag to tell would-be offenders that the department will work to find and arrest people who commit crimes in the city.
Agencies that can’t release body camera video have options. Asked by a questioner from a Maryland sheriff’s office whose legal team holds footage until a case is adjudicated, Oldoerp suggested starting with stills from body camera video, or even a single frame, to test the response.
Put it to work: Give personnel a simple submission route. Ask for the incident number, a short description and why the information would matter to residents. Keep release and publication decisions with designated reviewers.
3. Give people a recognizable reason to return
Fairfax County’s “Tappy” videos use a little hand to point out the violations that led to a traffic stop. There’s no music and no narration. Viewers watch the incident unfold while the hand directs their attention to what went wrong.
The format became recognizable enough that viewers began asking for “Tappy” when Fairfax County PD posted other videos. One commenter, a parent, said they and their 16-year-old, a newly licensed driver, love watching the videos.
Irvine’s Wanted Wednesdays series features cases in which detectives had exhausted their leads and needed the public’s help identifying or locating someone. The posts generated tips from people who recognized those featured, including former partners, Oldoerp said.
Those posts can also draw news coverage. Oldoerp described a Wanted Wednesday post featuring a suspect who resembled Backstreet Boys singer AJ McLean. The resemblance became part of the story, attracting coverage from local television outlets and People magazine, along with international attention, he said. That coverage carried the department’s request for help to a wider audience.
Put it to work: Choose a recurring need, such as identifying suspects or explaining dangerous driving, and build a series around it. Use a consistent name or visual cue so residents recognize it, and make clear how they can help or what they should learn.
4. Write captions people can understand
Captions matter just as much. Oldoerp suggested dropping police jargon and telling the story the way you’d tell a spouse about your day.
Fairfax County PD said they stopped writing captions like blog posts and now try to make viewers want to see the video. They also avoid time references such as “today,” which can make a post sound dated when it appears later in someone’s feed.
Compare these hypothetical openings:
“At approximately 0800 hours, officers conducted a traffic enforcement operation in reference to pedestrian violations.”
“Drivers have been turning through this crosswalk while people are still crossing. Our officers spent the morning addressing it.”
The second version puts the community’s concern first and explains what officers are doing about it. Readers can immediately understand why the post matters to them.
Put it to work: Rewrite a recent caption in everyday language. Lead with what matters to residents, replace police jargon and include a clear next step when appropriate. Ask a colleague outside policing to read it and tell you what the message is.
5. Establish boundaries before trying humor
Humor can start with an experience your audience already shares. For Fairfax County, that was the instinct to check your speed when a Ford Explorer shows up in the rearview mirror.
The department posted a meme on Facebook and Instagram that used Sgt. James Doakes, a character from “Dexter,” to ask whether that’s a police vehicle behind you. The caption tied the joke to slowing down. People didn’t expect a police department to be funny, Watts said, and the post went viral with nearly 810K likes and more than 50K reposts.
The reference gave viewers a familiar way into a traffic safety message. But choosing when and how to use humor requires judgment.
With body camera footage, humor can turn someone’s difficult moment into entertainment. People recorded during police encounters may be distressed or facing consequences that extend beyond the clip.
Watts and Palencia-Membreno described checking videos for victim identification, sensitive information, investigative concerns and officer safety. They also discussed blurring identifying details in traffic videos and using a group review before publication.
Timing matters, too. Oldoerp described a time when he pulled back on humor-related posts after an officer-involved shooting.
Irvine PD and Fairfax County PD described different approval processes. Oldoerp emphasized trust and clear expectations for the people publishing content. Fairfax County’s review process provides additional eyes to catch problems before videos go out.
Put it to work: Define routine publishing authority and the circumstances that require additional review. Check footage and captions for identifying details, missing context and potential harm. Establish who can pause scheduled content during a critical incident.
6. Respond to residents and listen for useful information
Fairfax County PD said part of the department’s strategy involves setting aside at least an hour after posting to respond to comments and questions. Staffers answer in a natural, conversational voice, acknowledging feedback and helping viewers understand what they are watching.
“We no longer post and ghost anymore,” Palencia-Membreno said.
Fairfax County PD also described posting and pinning the first comment on a Reel to encourage discussion. It’s usually something obvious, or an answer to a question the team expects viewers to ask. On a video of a driver passing on the shoulder in rush-hour traffic, the pinned comment gave a relatable comment: “For my visual learners…"
The comments can also provide information officers can use.
Watts and Palencia-Membreno described residents flagging a school bus stop where drivers were failing to stop as children boarded. That information is passed on to community commanders to help direct officers to the location.
Not every comment needs an answer. Watts and Palencia-Membreno said the positive comments outweigh the negative ones, and the team has learned when not to respond to people looking for a fight. Oldoerp said to ignore inappropriate comments, and that a government agency generally can’t delete them once a post is up. The attorneys he has consulted advise against it, he said, and he urged agencies to seek their own legal advice.
Put it to work: Build time for responding into the posting schedule. Designate someone to answer questions, identify concerns that need follow-up and route actionable information to the appropriate unit. When possible, close the loop with the resident so they know what happened next. Handle comment moderation under the department’s established policy and legal guidance.
7. Measure the result the post was meant to produce
Both agencies discussed audience growth and posts that attracted substantial attention. Those numbers can help a team understand what people watch and share. Reach and engagement figures alone do not establish whether residents trust the department or changed their behavior, but the can serve as indicators of what is resonating with your community.
Match the measure to the purpose. A recruiting post might be judged by inquiries or visits to an application page. A request for help might produce usable tips. A safety video might prompt questions that show what residents still need explained. Fairfax County PD counted it as a win when a parent used their videos to show a new driver what not to do. Irvine’s missing-person example was a direct public response to a post.
Recruiting came up in both sessions. Watts and Palencia-Membreno said they have come across comments from people asking how to apply after watching the PD’s videos, and encouraged agencies to treat every post as recruiting content because prospective applicants look to the page for a sense of the department’s work and culture.
Oldoerp shared a specific example: An intentionally bad graphic advertising a graphic designer opening attracted more than 700 applicants, compared with about 100 previously, he said. The deliberately poor design drew attention to the opening.
Put it to work: Before publishing, choose one result to track: usable tips, recruiting inquiries, application-page visits or safety questions answered. Review that result alongside reach and staff time to decide whether to repeat the approach.
Starting point
A department can begin with a single issue residents already care about.
Over the next 30 days, create three posts addressing that concern. Use clear language, show the work where appropriate and make time to answer questions. Designate a reviewer before production begins.
At the end of the pilot, assess what people watched, what they asked and whether they took the action you requested.
That gives the department something concrete to build on: a tested approach, a realistic workload and a better understanding of what its community needs to hear.
