(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
MOSES LAKE, Wash. -Routine arrests in Moses Lake are going viral for all the right reasons.
You won't find 'social media outreach' in the old police training manuals, but cops here have spent the last several months rewriting the book on how their department communicates with the community.
The most recent smile-inducing post came on Tuesday. Moses Lake PD laid out the details of a recent bust, with #RexKwonDo, a reference to the film Napoleon Dynamite.
The arrest was just good police work -- but the comedy is that little extra that's making a big difference in how Moses Lake has begun seeing its first responders.
"Well we wanted to up the readership of our Facebook page and engage the public a little more. The best way I know of is to use some humor," said Capt. Mike Williams.
Capt. Williams is a 20-year veteran of the department so his service pre-dates Facebook, but he knows an effective public relations platform when he sees one, especially when it comes to communicating all the ups and downs of police work.
"What we do is a very serious job, but there's quite a bit of comedy that comes along with it, just in the things that we see on a daily basis."
Like the time a man ran from a well-trained and very fit officer. That arrest carried the hashtag #dontrunfromskinnycops
"It's kind of the police officer's survival mechanism, is having a good sense of humor. We have to see the worst parts of society day in and day out, the only way you can make it through your career is to keep it in perspective and have a sense of humor and recognize some of these situations are funny," Capt. Williams said.
The comedy campaign seems to be working. Moses Lake PD's Facebook page has grown from just over 4,000 followers to just over 6,000 followers just on Tuesday.