Alumni Profile - Sgt. William Hickey '97
November 2016
Social Media has connected us all around the world in a variety of previously unanticipated ways. Police Departments are turning to Facebook and Twitter to communicate better with their citizens while sharing important updates at the same time.听A good example of this is being practiced by聽Sgt. William Hickey 鈥�97聽of the Lancaster City (PA) Police Department.听Whether sharing statistics or posting humorous GIFs, Sgt. Hickey has become a great model of a police officer in the age of social media.听We hope you enjoy his story and consider following his department鈥檚 activities on their Facebook, Twitter聽and YouTube and Instagram channels.听
What year did you graduate from 大发六合彩 and with what degree?
鈥淚 graduated from the College in 1997 with an Associate Degree in Administration of Justice.鈥�
Did you pursue further academic goals?
鈥淎fter graduation, I entered into the Criminal Justice program at West Chester University. I received my Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice in the fall of 1998.鈥澛�
Where are you now?
鈥淚 am employed by the Lancaster City Bureau of Police in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. My current title is Crime Prevention Sergeant. I wear several hats in my current position. My primary responsibility is to supervise (5) School Resource Officers, (1) Police Athletic League (PAL) Officer and (1) Officer that works in many of the elementary schools in a program titled Teaching, Educating and Mentoring (TEAM).
I also serve as the Public Information Officer (PIO) for our department. I deal with the news media for requests for information. I also publish information about what the department is doing through regular updates. We try to contact the public as much as possible through daily news releases, case updates and information on higher profile investigations and arrests. We utilize many platforms to accomplish this. The department realizes that most people get their news via the internet and social media, so we are trying to reach out to them in the ways that they like to communicate.
Our primary platform is the law enforcement network聽. When I publish something through Crime Watch it automatically generates a link and publishes it on our聽听补苍诲听聽feeds. We also produce and publish informative videos on our聽听补苍诲听finally, the department also has an聽.听
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) recently helped to聽聽that was featured at their 2016 annual conference in San Diego. It highlights many programs that our department has that helps us to reach out to the community. 聽
How has the use of social media had an impact on your career and the department on a whole?
鈥淲ith our social media outlets, we believe that we can better reach those in our community on a number of levels. We push out news content daily (police log of items of interest, high-profile crimes significant arrests, persons of interest). We also try to educate people on crime prevention issues and how to deal with crime trends.听 We also use those platforms to highlight the good work done by the members of the Lancaster City Bureau of Police. We want the community to know how hard their Officers, Detectives and others are working for them.鈥�
鈥淲e try to keep a balance of news items and some things that keep it a little fun. People really seem to enjoy seeing pictures and videos of our Officers in the community. They really love anything and everything to do with our K9 and Mounted Units.听聽made a few people laugh.
鈥淲e frequently get 鈥渢agged鈥� in Twitter posts meant for the numerous other Lancaster Police departments around the world (Ohio, South Carolina, New York, California and Great Britain) Sometimes I just make people aware of the error and direct them to the correct agency. Other times I have some fun with it. There was a Twitter account in California that had tagged us in a tweet stating that we should 鈥渇ree鈥� their friend, and that 鈥榠f the glove don鈥檛 fit, you must acquit鈥� My reply was 鈥榞ood luck with the Cochran strategy. You could have also gone with 鈥楾hese ain鈥檛 my pants.
鈥�What is next for you professionally?聽
鈥淚 still have a couple of years before I can retire from the department. When my time comes to take off the badge I think that I would like to stay connected to the world of criminal justice through either a Public Information Officer position in a community arena or possibly as an educator. I think that it is important for officials to pass along their knowledge and experience to the next generation of professionals.鈥�
What is your favorite memory of your time on campus, outside of the classroom?聽
鈥淚 was working full-time while I was taking classes, so I did my best to arrange my schedule to have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It made for a fairly long day of classes. I had good memories of getting most of my academic work done between classes in the lounge and library.鈥�
Did you have a favorite professor or class during your studies?聽
鈥淚 remember taking a class with the former Upper Providence Township Chief of Police, Tom Davis. This was in the midst of the Amy Willard homicide investigation. I saw what a circus the media had made of the case and how much stress was placed on his agency and the Pennsylvania State Police to find Willard鈥檚 killer. I was fascinated by how Chief Davis was able to preserve a balance of dealing with the investigation and his duties as an educator.鈥�
What advice would you give to current students and Alumni to capitalize on the education they received from the College?
鈥嬧�淒on鈥檛 wait to get started in your career in whatever aspect of law enforcement you choose. Get out there and find out who is hiring. Take the tests, fill out the applications, get on the consortium lists, and try to find practical experience that translates to a full-time career. When I was at West Chester, I completed my practicum (internship) requirement by working as a Seasonal Police Officer with the Ocean City (MD) Police Department. The two seasons that I worked with OCPD along with my education from the College and West Chester helped me in getting hired by Lancaster City. There are other agencies in Delaware and New Jersey that have similar Seasonal Officer programs.鈥�
鈥淭he process of selecting quality candidates for hire tends to be lengthy, exhaustive and frustrating. Don鈥檛 be discouraged if you don鈥檛 get hired by the first agency where you applied and tested. Having a background in criminal justice education can set you apart from an otherwise equally qualified candidate.鈥澛�
Previous Profiles聽
颁濒颈肠办听聽for the Alumni Profile archive.