Cop helps woman across finish line. Can social media help police shed negative image?
The simple act of a Louisville Metro Police officer helping Asia Ford, who has lost 217 pounds, make it the last two miles to the finish line at a 10k race, created a social media event which demonstrates how many more miles law enforcement has to go in order to shed the weight of negative opinions, that have been so hard for the nation to聽bear.
Ms. Ford, mother of three, was participating in the as part of her weight-loss journey.聽However, according to , her stamina began to falter two excruciating miles from the finish line.
聽That鈥檚 when Lt. Aubrey Gregory of the lent her an arm and his moral support, helping her for the rest of the 10k race.
"I'm not going to let her quit, so I got out and she immediately grabbed my hand," LMPD Lt. Aubrey Gregory told .
Ford and her son Terrance crossed the line with Gregory and the moment was captured by spectators who quickly posted the images to social media, where they spread like wildfire.
鈥淭here are so many things playing into those photos becoming viral today, when a year ago they would just have been largely ignored,鈥� says Lauri Stevens of in an interview. 鈥淭here is all this negativity out there and social media makes everything bigger. People don鈥檛 expect police officers to do nice things. It鈥檚 become a man bites dog situation.鈥�
Ms. Stevens a columnist for , founded LAWS Communications in 2005 to assist law enforcement professionals implement interactive media technologies.
Not everyone is convinced, however. Some are appending the hashtag #copaganda to positive images of law enforcement.
鈥淭he reality is that police are doing the same things they have always done,鈥� says Stevens. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not shooting more people. They鈥檙e not just starting to do good things either. It鈥檚 that with the advent of social media everything they do is now being witnessed and shared in an environment that makes everything bigger than it really is.鈥�
Stevens points to the events which took place in Ferguson, Missouri as the tipping point when social media forever altered the meaning of the phrase police surveillance by placing officers under the microscope 24-7.
鈥淧olice are just being caught on camera more than ever,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚f there is any good coming from the events that happened in Ferguson it鈥檚 that those who have always been supportive of law enforcement are now using social media to get images like what we are seeing of Asia Ford today.鈥�
According to Stevens, 鈥淭here have always been officers who sing in their cars, dance and help people. The difference is that now [law enforcement is] not blocking us from seeing those big personalities. They鈥檙e learning to tell their stories. We鈥檙e learning to tell their stories on social media too, and maybe soon people won't be so shocked when those stories are positive.鈥�
