Meet the SSPD’s mystery social media star
The witty-yet-anonymous, on-duty poster has kept people guessing — until now.
One recent night while bellied up to the bar at Bibulous, two young and savvy bar flies were pointing and laughing (in a good way) at their phones.
“The police department has a new social media person,” they told me. “Look, the person said ‘rizz.’ Has to be young.” I was intrigued and whipped out my own phone to check out the SSPD’s Instagram. “No way,” I said immediately. “There’s a long link in the caption [that doesn’t click out]. Older.”
The plot thickened. Gen Z, or Gen X?
That very night, I shot a text to my super-secret source and got a name and age. One week after leaving a message for the SSPD’s Public Information Lieutenant, Paul Veitch, my phone rang and I saw that it was none other than the Saratoga PD.
“This is Lt. Angela McGovern,” the caller announced when I answered.
I told her that the purpose of my article was to reveal her as the person behind the SSPD’s social media, which she presumably knew from my detailed voicemail left with Veitch.
“I do not want people to know!” she said, although an excellent sport. “That’s part of the fun.” She also admitted, “People definitely want to know though. A lot of officers have said something to me like, ‘Everyone wants to know who's doing it.’ And I'm like, ‘Don't tell them who it is!’”
Her reasons for keeping her identity a secret — until now — were layered.
“I want people to approach all of our officers,” she says, “and feel comfortable talking to all of them, maybe about a post, and start those conversations.”
The lieutenant, understandably, also wants to be able to take a vacation and not feel like the department’s social media will suffer.
McGovern’s turn as a part-time social media manager began in 2019. “I was a sergeant at the time, and I was doing it when I could and when I was at work,” McGovern says. “But honestly, I was really frustrated with our current status or lack thereof on social media. I went to the chief at the time and was like, ‘I can't take this anymore — can I have the password?’ I didn't have any training but am figuring it out as I go.”
Then she (that’s her, above left, in 2024) upped her game — which is what drew the attention of my friends at Bibulous. “In October or November of last year, I went to a PIO — that’s public information officer — training. I got some really good insight on how to take a fresh approach to social media. When I got back from that training, I instantly started putting some of the info to use, and it took off from there.
And that’s how McGovern is not-exactly-singlehandedly (“a few of us work on it, but I do the most”) keeping the SSPD up with the times. “That's just the current state of our society and this technological environment that we live in now,” she says. “Social media is where people are going now to get their information and get it quickly. When people want to know something, they're going to Facebook or Instagram.
“We're definitely increasing our reach and our interactions with the public. It's making connections on a deeper level with the community.”
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The department’s handle is @SSPDNY on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). Her favorite campaigns so far have been “monthly matchups” on Instagram, which featured a ride-along with an officer who answered questions via the platform during his/her shift. She also featured Brady, one of the mounted unit’s horses, on TikTok. “I had a lot of fun making a ‘get ready with me’ [video] with a voiceover,” she says.
The police animals have indeed proven popular. The post that originally caught the eye of my Bibulous neighbors was a collage of portraits — one canine, one equine — with the caption, “So much rizz, we made the 6 o’clock news.”
A snowstorm post from this winter also went viral.
“I was like, ‘Hey everyone, just a little safety tip: Slide into DMs instead of ditches tonight,’” McGovern says. “The message was, ‘don't drive.’ That took off for some reason — I don't know why everyone thought it was so hilarious. We try to make sure they all have some sort of important message.”
McGovern has also been able to use the socials for business matters, too.
“I’ve live-streamed our award ceremonies, our swearing in, which is really nice for officers that are getting hired here but have family far away,” she says. “They can watch right online. I love that.”
While some officers aren’t even on social media to see what all the buzz is about, others have jumped in to help.
“There are other people helping me,” says the lieutenant. “And they've become pretty witty, too.”
As for the Gen Z vs Gen X debate? We should have seen it coming: McGovern is a millennial.
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She’s terrific! Love the SSPD facebook page. The videos, posts, jokes, it’s all great!
I like it when there is a little attitude in the public safety sector SM. Tip of my tricorn to her.