The ways law enforcement agencies are using social media were the focus of a recent edition of the “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Dr. Lee Wade, an assistant professor of criminal justice administration, first aired Aug. 11 on WMOT-FM (89.5 and www.wmot.org ). You can listen to their conversation here.

Dr. Lee Wade

With an MTSU colleague, Dr. Joshua Harris, Wade conducted a study and presented it at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ annual meeting in Philadelphia in February of this year.

The study examined two city police departments in Georgia, a special police unit in a Tennessee municipality and a county sheriff’s department in Tennessee.

The number of posts, likes, shares and comments on each agency’s Facebook page and the types of information posted were documented.

“They use it for information, mainly for public information, warning people,” Wade explained. “They use it for promotion of their own department, and also they use it for what we call ‘shaming’ in criminology, meaning … the number of arrests, the person who was arrested, the name, the charge.”

Wade and Harris also looked at how one particular agency used surveillance videos posted on Facebook to help investigations.

To listen to previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

A video clip of the interview is available above.