Awsten Yonn and Miranda Vega were recently approached by a Jacksonville police officer as they walked outside in front of Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
They weren’t in trouble with the law. There was some trouble, however. Their baby, Dusten, had just gone into eye surgery, they told the Santa-hat clad officer.
On Dec. 17, members of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office were out spreading a little holiday cheer. Two anonymous donors had given $50,000 for area law enforcement agencies to randomly distribute $100 gift cards.
The young couple was a perfect candidate.
“Would this help your day be a little bit better and help you have a Merry Christmas?” asked Melissa Bujeda, a public information officer.
Yonn looked somewhat shocked, perhaps a little nervous, before saying absolutely it would. Vega asked if Bujeda was serious. Bujeda was, which prompted Vega to ask if it was OK to give her a hug.
“We’re going to buy him something nice,” Yonn said of baby Dusten.
It was one of the day’s many cheerful moments that were relayed through social media, a tool the sheriff’s office has used much more — and much differently — in recent months.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are no longer a means to just blast mug shots, missing person reports or the ongoing, persistent reminders of crime Jacksonville still faces.
While murders and violent crime still dominate the airwaves and headlines, the office is trying to inject a dose of positivity with the work it does.
“We have taken a definite change of direction, a complete proactive approach,” said Bujeda, who heads much of the office’s social media efforts.
The different platforms help create a more positive dialogue between the office and the community.
And it’s working, Bujeda said. In the past, the department’s Facebook feed was filled with negative comments about crime-related news. They still pop up here and there, Bujeda said, but they’ve gradually declined in the past several months as more positive news is shared.
The effort has included a “Behind the Badge” series Bujeda began. It highlights a sheriff’s office member holding up a piece of paper with a personal factoid.
“I have adopted 4 kids from the foster care system.”
“My son had a heart transplant at 6 weeks old. He is now 18.”
“I am a colonel in the Army Reserves — 28 years.”
It was a way to show the community that, yes, officers are average people, said public information officer Chris Hancock.
He said it was initially hard to recruit officers to open up, but shyness and fear have been alleviated since the program has taken off. Hancock said the Behind the Badge promotion has more hits, likes and retweets than anything else since it started. He credits Bujeda as the brainchild behind the idea.
Bujeda said the positive social media push started right after the office placed in the top three worldwide when it came to social media and crisis management. That’s when she started looking at other agencies and realized “it’s a whole new world” for social media and law enforcement.
Along with Behind the Badge, she encouraged zone officers to snap photos of positive scenes from their areas to share.
The push has gained momentum. Bujeda said the holiday gift card giveaway using the hashtag #904SecretSanta was seen by 2.9 million people on Facebook, 1.7 million on Twitter and 93,000 on Instagram. Since October, the Facebook page has added more than 20,000 friends, Bujeda said.
“We’re getting there,” she said.
Followers might also have noticed another light-hearted theme running throughout December: JAX Jingles. The Elf on the Shelf-inspired series of pictures put one of the holiday dolls in an officer’s blue jacket in humorous situations.
Bujeda was behind that one, too, but said with the holidays wrapped the elf will go back on the shelf until next year. However, the Behind the Badge and other positive promotions will increase during the first part of 2016.
The pictures, videos and stories have generated more user feedback.
The 51-second clip of Bujeda, Yonn and Vega could have been longer. Once the recording stopped, Bujeda said she and Hancock were a little teary-eyed at what had taken place. Vega burst into tears with gratitude.
“You realize in those moments what a difference it made,” said Bujeda.
By Tuesday morning, the scene viewers were able to watch on Facebook had 2,335 likes, 575 shares and 167 comments.
Top among those comments was Yonn. He circled back online to thank the office and provide a status report — baby Dusten came out of surgery and everything “went great.”
Awake since, 4 a.m., he said, the couple was hungry. The gift card was a blessing. They used it to buy food and Dusten’s medicine.
@writerchapman
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