The Madison Police Department is using a new tactic to combat a recent uptick in car thefts and break-ins: Internet memes.
Last week, MPD began using posts with the hashtag #NightlyLockUp on social media sites Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to remind people to lock their cars at night.
The campaign features short videos, playful images and even attempts at poetry.
Borrowing this technique — and the hashtag — from the Savannah-Chatham Police Department in Georgia, MPD isn’t just having a little fun, it's addressing a specific serious problem — gun thefts.
According to a blog post announcing the #NightlyLockUp campaign, there have been 1,100 car thefts this year. Of those, 26 resulted in guns stolen from cars. Last year, there were 41 guns stolen from cars in the city. “There are now 67 guns in criminal hands that DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN,” reads the blog post. “The majority of these [gun thefts] occurred with unlocked cars.”
With gun season opening over the weekend, MPD promoted a meme aimed at deer hunters last Thursday.
Perhaps a better tip for not having your gun stolen from your car is to not leave it in your car, notes MPD Officer Tyler Grigg.
“What we’re finding is that some people are leaving their guns in their car when they go to work because their workplaces don’t allow firearms and then [after work] they go home and forget about it,” Grigg says.
“We would definitely suggest that people do not store your guns unattended even in a locked vehicle. What we’re trying to address is lock it up, if you’re not going to do anything else,” he continues, adding “it’s just best to bring those guns inside and secure them there.”
MPD’s posts aren’t quite as savvy as the Savannah-Chatham Police Department posts — which feature the Golden Girls, smiling ostriches and pleading kittens. But officials still hope they make an impact.
“A lot of our officers are getting reports early in the morning from people who are walking out to their vehicles and seeing its been rifled through and things are missing or damaged,” Grigg says. “It’s a win-win for everybody if the cars are locked — people get to keep their things and the officers are also available to devote their time to other calls.”
Grigg, who took over the department’s social media accounts one year ago, says this is MPD’s first attempt at a designated campaign. “It’s kind of an experiment to see if this is an effective way to reach Madisonians,” he says. “Why not use the power of social media to get out some good crime prevention tips?”
And, it seems to be working. “Analytics are showing that people are actually looking at it,” he says, adding that they will create a new post with the #NightlyLockUp tag each night now through Christmas.
Another goal is to “increase our [followers] on social media,” says Grigg. The posts will vary in style, he adds: “They’ll be anything from using humor to using serious statements and [we’ll] mix it up as much as we can [because] with each technique, we reach a different audience.”
Other police departments have started sharing MPD’s posts “and also creating their own content,” Grigg says.
Thanks to this online campaign, MPD has been approached by Madison Area Crime Stoppers, who wants to sponsor a billboard on the Beltline with the #NightlyLockUp slogan.
“We’re getting some traction,” Grigg says.
