Since the advent of social media over the past decade or so, we’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon. It seems that nowadays, instead of reporting problems to 311 or 911, people are signing onto Facebook, Twitter, etc. and posting about the issue there. No matter what community-focused Facebook site you log into (including JPCA’s Facebook page), there are postings from people who claim to have witnessed crimes occurring, those posting photos of infractions, etc. When asked if the problems were reported via 311 or 911, the answer almost always is “no.” We don’t understand the point of this. It’s nice to inform your neighbors that problems exist, but the way to get things resolved is to report it to the proper authorities and not hope that they happen upon your posting. Elected officials and the police are not looking for problems online, they are responding to complaints received via 911 and 311.