Sergeant Pete Wheeler is the man behind the viral Facebook posts from the Boulder City Police Department but that’s only part of the story. We sat down with him recently to talk about his career in law enforcement, the importance of community policing, and communication between police officers and their communities.
Sergeant Wheeler came to Boulder City Police Department on a lateral transfer from Nevada Highway Patrol as a motor officer in 2017. Just last summer he was promoted to sergeant in the department and took over management of one of the two graveyard shifts with the department. He’ll have ten years in law enforcement this April and along the way, he has used his communication skills to deal with the public as well as his colleagues within the department. In 2021, he was approached by command staff about assisting with a recruitment video for the department. Part of this assignment included a social media component to reach out to potential candidates for the police academy. This was basically limited to posts about activities the department participated in around town, in order to encourage people to come out and possibly inquire about a career in policing.
Starting last October, Sergeant Wheeler decided to begin including some traffic stops and arrests that were occurring during his shift. While these are mostly traffic stops, like speeding or DUI, some traffic stops lead to the discovery of other potential crimes, such as identity theft. Sergeant Wheeler’s approach was unique in that he has a very humorous storytelling ability and was able to take mundane subjects and make them more engaging and – dare we say – fun? The community has responded positively to his posts and some have done some pretty good numbers in terms of engagement.
One of the special things about Sergeant Wheeler’s social media presence is that he spends some time interacting on each post, which is somewhat unusual for government social media, which tends to be very one-sided in pushing out information but not really engaging the readers in a friendly way. Readers have responded with jokes of their own, especially with a recent post about an accident between two police department vehicles. Seems as though the police department can take as well as it can dish it out.
Officers on all shifts will frequently seek out an appearance in the social media posts by advising him of especially interesting or noteworthy events occurring within Boulder City’s jurisdiction. Sergeant Wheeler looks through the requests and selects one or two to publish each week. These posts help keep the community aware of what’s happening in Boulder City with respect to crime, and an insight into the work the officers do, with a humorous bent.
Sergeant Wheeler understands the importance of establishing a good relationship with the community he serves and he recognizes the opportunity to do so through his Facebook posts. We know we look forward to the posts, and it seems we are not alone! You can follow all the action by CLICKING HERE.
