Posts tagged University
Facebook good neighbor by funding financially strapped police annex.
Jul 15th
Meet Mary Ferguson, AKA the Facebook Cop, whose position was created through public-private partnership between tony Menlo Park and the social media giant.
Over the next three years, Facebook agreed to pay $600,000 to the town, where the company also happens to be headquartered.
Ferguson, 34, who’s paid $194,000 in salary and benefits per year for her services, keeps an eye on the internet behavior of potentially unruly kids by using an online persona that hides her true identity.
Ferguson’s primary duties apart from patrolling Facebook include keeping children in school, working with juvenile offenders, and helping large area businesses equip themselves for natural disasters, campus shootings or other violent crimes, reports the Wall Street Journal.
‘Mary is a pro-active police officer who enjoys working with kids,’ Commander Dave Bertini told NBC Bay Area in March, when the force first accepted the funds. ‘Her passion and enthusiasm for truancy abatement will drive the department’s program in a successful direction for the youth of Menlo Park.’
While many residents of the well-off tech town appear happy with the unusual corporate partnerships, some people see a conflict of interest.
Menlo Park Mayor Ray Mueller supports the partnership.
‘Facebook moved into a part of town that was blighted, that was hurting,’ Mueller told the WSJ. ‘One of the first things we’re seeing is this public safety net coming down to protect everyone.’
Mueller brushed off suggestions that the tech giant is acting solely out of self interest.
‘Anyone who has the perception that Facebook is trying to protect themselves really doesn’t understand the situation,’ he told the WSJ. ‘That place is a fortress—they don’t need the Menlo Park Police to protect them.’
Some experts have their doubts.
‘That raises some potential conflicts that, if I was the chief, I am not sure I’d want to wrestle with,’ University of South Carolina criminal justice professor Geoffrey Alpert told the WSJ.
Alpert said he worries about skewed loyalties. ‘What do you tell your officers about how to treat people who work at Facebook?’ he wondered.
For it’s part, Facebook has called the $600,000 donation a no-strings-attached gift.
‘We just identified a need in the community,’ Facebook spokesperson Genevieve Grdina told the WSJ. ‘It’s not the “Facebook officer”; it’s the officer for the whole community.’
by Menlo Park C1N staff
the Wall Street Journal and Guardian contributed to this story.
Who is Sky Guy
Jun 24th
After working in the software industry for almost twenty years, Mr. Vilot decided it was time to merge his two passions: astronomy and kids.
Being the quintessential “kid magnet,” Mr. Vilot has been volunteering at the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder, CO., in their K-12 outreach program.
Mr. Vilot studied acting for two years.
He launched SkyGuy.com, a series of short videos answering the many questions he has received from kids while volunteering at Fiske. The project is an abrupt change from his past, throwing himself into a completely new industry and learning all new tools. Once again, he is rapidly teaching himself. This time it is video, lighting, sound, editing and animation.
Renewed Control For Drunken students
Apr 16th
Disturbing and dangerously drunk, at 1:30 this morning, Flagler students residing on Almeria Street were rampaging down Riberia screaming, pounding on cars, crashing through yards and waking up the working people, elderly and children. Every Friday and Saturday night we dread these kinds of disturbances.
Saragossa Street Resident and University of North Florida Professor Jason Mauro ignited discussion Monday night in comments before the City Commission. It’s time for some predictability and stability to be enforced, said Mauro. The commission’s public comment period seldom draws commission response, but this and two other comments were brought to discussion immediately by Commissioner Leanna Freeman – the other two, bridge openings and getting earlier publication of commission agendas. These are very specific concerns we should discuss while the speakers are still here, Freeman said. Mauro’s concerns, often brought to the commission over recent years, were answered by Vice Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline – chairing in the absence of Mayor Joe Boles – and City Manager John Regan. Regan promised a report at the May 12 meeting on how Miami and Gainesville are addressing student concerns at the Universities of Florida and Miami.
Source: The St. Augustine Report