Greetings everyone, and welcome to another exciting addition to The Campbell Commentary! If this is your first time, welcome and I am so grateful you have decided to take a few minutes out of your busy schedule (ya know, with the quarantine and all) to enjoy some light reading. I encourage you to take a look at my other posts as well, and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE!
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Well, now that the shoutout is done, I can move onto the meat and taters of this post. And for those of you wondering, no, this entry will not involve any bodily fluids or stories from cop land. Just a good old fashioned blog about something most of us know and love, or hate, depending on which side of the spectrum you are on: Social Media.
I have recently seen an increase in posts and memes about cops with social media, specifically those that are on the TikTok, otherwise known as the “give Communist China all the information they want about me” app. If you don't believe that, Google it. It’s no joke. I mean, I know, the information that we give to places like Facebook and Instagram are probably not as “protected” as they claim it is, but it is a tad bit more comforting knowing that an American company is mis-using my personal information and not a foreign, communist one. Let's get real here, it’s not like NSA, CIA, FBI, and NCIS are listening to every phone conversation you are having, or checking every keystroke, or every website you visit or anything…
I'm just saying, you KNOW they know. And you know that THEY know that WE know that THEY know… Basically what I'm trying to say is, no matter if you are on any social media or not, someone knows everything about you because you carry around a smartphone.
So, this leads me to my original point of this post, and that is social media as a whole.
I remember the original MySpace. Yup, I’m that old. Starting out with Tom as your first friend. Seeing that goofy picture of him turning around.
It was stupid, but he was there for us. Good old Tom. We could do ANYTHING on MySpace. Wanna change the colors of your page? No problem. Wanna force people to hear Coheed and Cambria’s “A Favor House Atlantic” every time they open your page? Easy. There were websites DEDICATED to creating the code for your MySPace page to be red or yellow or whatever. You could even change the font, it was wild!
Oh man, MySpace was like the frat house of all of social media, and Tom was the president. Only, he didnt care what you did. I literally used a fake email to set mine up. Pretty sure my account is still floating out there in cyber space with nothing on it. I know I removed everything from it, but in order to actually “SHUT IT DOWN” you needed to respond to an email, and I couldn't respond to said email because I had used a fake email... MySpace didn’t care. They let me have one anyway. Thanks, Tom. And don't even get me started on the whole “Top Friends” thing.
So after MySpace sort of ran its course, those of us that had college email accounts, that weren't fake, could open a Facebook account, back when it was called THE Facebook. I remember being so excited when I got my college email that I could sign up for Facebook. It’s weird to think about that. Facebook was so fresh and new back then. We were finding our future classmates on there, and POKING random strangers. That was so strange… there was a POKE button… I’m sure that would be sexual harassment at this point if we still had it.
Basically what I’m telling you is that I’ve been around social media since its inception, with MySpace, which apparently is still a thing. (Full disclosure, I literally just googled MySpace, to see what it was now and it looks… horrifying. SO busy with ads and crap. Do people even see this stuff?)
So, fast forward to now, April 2020, during the Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic quarantine. Here we are, all wasting time on Netflix and social media. Binge watching The Office EVER SINCE NETFLIX REMOVED FRIENDS… but I'm not mad… I’m just disappointed…
All this extra time has really granted me some awesome opportunities on my Instagram, including doing some home workout stuff, recording a few vlogs, and just trying to help people navigate through this “new normal” that we are in. I have actually quite enjoyed this time, all things considered. Now granted, I wish I could be going to the barn gym to train, or take my wife out, or whatever, but, all in all, we are still healthy and have jobs right now. That’s a win for me. I’m getting a bit off track here, but it’s kind of fun just writing.
So, where am I going with this? What’s the main topic?
Social media and cops.
That’s what I am talking about today. I recently posted a meme on my Instagram about cops using TikTok that got a TON of people talking, even upset a few people.
And now I'm seeing more and more memes making fun of cops who use TikTok. And they are hilarious, much like the memes of cops who have Instagrams and Facebooks and Patreons and OnlyFans… wait… Cops have those? Wow…
😅😅😅 ANYWAY… What I’m wanting to talk a bit about here is this whole thing. Ya’ll already know why I have a public Instagram account: to motivate others, not just first responders, to get up and MOVE! Make them laugh, make them realize it’s okay to not be okay. I do it because I want to. I am not trying to be famous or whatever. I’m not trying to be Mike the Cop or Officer Smith. They all have their own things that they do, and I have mine. I guess if someone were to ask what mine really is, I’d say it was a blog/vlog about my life and lifestyle. I'm showing what I can without compromising too much of my life to the general public. It’s fun, it’s not costing me any money, my department is okay with me posting things in uniform, and I’m gonna continue doing it.
That being said, I feel the same way about other cops having social media accounts. You wanna have a Facebook? Awesome, have at it. You wanna dance and lip sync to weird videos on TikTok, be my guest, I ain't gonna stop you. And no one should, as long as you are SMART about it. If you are posing in uniform, make sure it’s cool with your department first…
The only thing I ask is this: LEARN THE JOB FIRST!
There is an entire generation of young cops out there, they are calling ZOOMERS, that have been born and raised with social media and smartphones and all that. These young cops are getting hired to departments everywhere and are so proud of what they do that they want to tell the whole world. I get it, I was that way too. I was so excited to be a cop I could hardly stand it, but I also knew the realities of the job.
I grew up around cops. My dad was in law enforcement for over 30 years, so I had it in my blood. I had a pretty good idea of what the job was about: protecting and serving your community. But that also meant that I knew the dark side of it too; the dangerous side. I understood from a very young age that the job wasn’t all about wearing a cool uniform, carrying a gun, and driving fast. It was about saving lives at the risk of losing your own. The job shows you that there are some REALLY bad people out there and that pure evil is not just something you read about in the Bible. It exists, and in some circumstances, it wants to kill you just because you wear a badge.
For the first few years of my policing career, I really tried to “hide” on social media. I either wasn’t on it or I had NOTHING on my page that suggested I was a police officer, even though my stuff is SUPER private. I am very protective of my family, so I was all about wanting them to stay safe. I quickly realized that I did not work in south central LA and that I did not need to be in “Dark Mode” all the time.
Fast forward to today, I am an 8 year veteran of policing and I have a public Instagram with the name OfficerCampbell182. With all kinds of pictures of me in uniform on there, for all the world to see. I’ll admit, I was a bit cautious in the beginning. I was even set to private, but I quickly realized that I wouldn't reach anyone new if my account was private, and the whole point of the Instagram was to reach new people. So I went public. And I didn’t really see a difference in followers...
Okay, so maybe not right away, but I started to gain some followers. I also noticed a trend in my followers, half of them were completely random people, no relation to law enforcement at all, and the other half were some form of first responder. It was awesome.
Currently, I sit at 4,593 followers. Some ghosts, some not. So wild to think I have gathered this many people to check out my every day life. And I have some pretty dedicated followers too. Always liking my posts, sharing them, and supporting me from my humble beginnings to my humble current status. In no way do I think I am some celebrity, nor do I want to be. I think that is why people enjoy following me, because I am “me.”
When I went to Police Week last year (thanks a lot Barbells and Badges) I had a crazy amount of people show up and talk to me because they “knew me from Instagram.” I was blown away. I met some of the coolest people I know there. I had so much fun just chatting with people and hanging out, but the best part was when people would say things like “You really are who you are on Instagram, aren’t you?”
Why yes, yes I am. I take pride in that. I’m not trying to be the next Mike Counihan (@NoDonutsHere) or Officer Daniels. I’m just trying to be me. That’s it. Trying to, as they say, humanize the badge, in my own way. I’m not jeopardizing my job, I’m not taking shirtless pics, or talking about making a bunch of arrests or whatever. I’m just on there having a bit of fun. I love it. And as it turns out, so do other people. Well, at least 4,500 people. I’m sure there are some haters in there that watch me even harder than my supporters do. (We can see who watches our stories… you aint hiding from anyone.)
Unless I mention your name or put you on my page without your consent, what do you care? How is my Instagram affecting you? If you do not like what I am doing, stop watching it and looking at it, plain and simple. I enjoy it, it costs me nothing and it's harmless.
And THAT right there is my point. It’s harmless.
I have received a LOT of scrutiny over having my page. Funny thing is, a lot of it is from people I actually know. It’s behind my back for the most part, but that’s the truth. The strangers on my page support me more than some of the people I know personally. I’m convinced that my Instagram has actually changed a lot of people’s minds about me, and who I am. That’s a harsh reality and a tough realization. People who I considered friends have said some pretty unfriendly things about me behind my back.
Well, that’s policing for you, though. The ones who say they “ain't into all that bullshit” are usually the ones who are out there spreading all that bullshit. You know that’s the truth.
Lots of cops out there HATE social media and the idea of cops having them, but yet they follow guys like Mike the Cop or Donut Operator. It’s so hypocritical. Guys are SO protective of what they do for a living and don't want the bad guys to know where they live, but they drive a take-home vehicle and park it in their driveway. That take home vehicle has a license plate or even a unit number, and that license plate is tied to that officer. It really isn't that difficult to find out where we live. Now, I'm not going to head on over to my page and give people my home address, but it wouldn't be too difficult to figure it out if you lived in my area. Everyone knows where cops live.
Like I was saying before, I used to hide what I did for a living on my PRIVATE accounts, and would never have even DREAMED of a public account. But now, I see it in a different perspective. I am so proud of what I do. I love it. I love being a police officer. Helping people, responding to calls, doing whatever I can to make sure that the community is safe. I love it. So, why am I afraid to show that I’m proud of it? Why should I have to hide what I do to provide for my family?
You can be proud of what you do and not be all “thank me for my service” about it, too. I feel like I do a good job of that. I’m not posting stuff just to post it. My posts have MEANING, most of the time. Unless they are a meme or me just being goofy, I usually have a damn good reason behind each and every one.
I put a lot of thought into my page. I think about how my family looks at it, or what my kids would say in 10 years. Will they be proud? WIll my department be pissed about this post? Lots of things go through my mind before I hit “POST” on anything.
So, before you judge me for what I do, keep this in mind: if it aint got anything to do with you, walk away. If it’s harmless, doesn't cost any money, and does not put anyone in danger, what do YOU care?
And that’s what I have to say to ALL social media cops. I caught a lot of flack when I first started, but now there is a whole new generation of social media cops out there on TikTok. I haven't even been doing this very long (coming up on 2 years) and there are kids out there posting some really creative stuff that have like 10,000 followers on TikTok. (Now that has a lot to do with algorithms and the way Instagram and Facebook work, but still... it’s impressive.)
All I have to say is, keep at it! If it is harmless, doesn't cost you any money, and does not put anyone in danger, keep doing it! I mean you got guys like @officernaenae who is ALWAYS a dancing fool, but that's HIS THING! He’s great at it and seems like a great dude.
Find your niche, find your reason to do it, and run with it. Or just post funny videos. Or dance. Or sing. Or lip sync to movie scenes. Do whatever you wanna do!
When I first started my goal was to motivate one person a day. That’s it. If I could get ONE person to make a change for that day, I was successful. That’s still my goal. Yeah, sure, I may have expanded from just another #fitcop page to a cop that blogs, vlogs, and lifts weights, but it’s all MINE. It’s what I want to do, and I’m not gonna stop anytime soon.
Keep dancing, keep lip syncing, keep memeing, but before everything else:
LEARN THE JOB FIRST AND BE SAFE!
Have a great day and watch your six!
-Logan
I am new here. I do follow you on Instagram and look forward to your postings each day. I am not LE, just a regular person. This is a great post. I liked hearing your view on social media. I appreciate all that you do. Thank you Officer Campbell!