here was a time when the state of the art com-munications technology for law enforcement was a loud, wooden ratchet that our 17th-Century predecessors would spin when calling a 10-13.

But in our wireless 21st-Century world — where tweeting and Facebook friendships consume the popular culture — it’s never been easier to stay informed and communicate with family, friends and colleagues. But the new communications technologies raise serious issues for law enforcement professionals, particularly those who use social-networking websites.

These websites are hugely popular and have little downside for the average person. “Express yourself,” their purveyors encourage, “share your interests, connect with friends and make new friends…”

But using these technologies can present a real risk to police officers’ careers because information posted on them can be easily misrepresented and used against an officer when placed in other contexts. Also, it is not uncommon for social website users to exaggerate information about themselves to make themselves more interesting. That seems harmless enough until those exaggerations are used against them.

For example, you might exaggerate and call yourself a “party animal” on your Facebook page to make yourself more attractive to fun-lovers. And that’s fine until you get involved in an incident at some party that forces you to take off-duty police action that somehow goes bad or has questionable results.

Now your exaggerated claim of being a party animal is spread across newspaper accounts of the incident and you’re depicted as an out-of-control pleasure-seeker. Your little exaggeration becomes evidence against you in the court of public opinion, if not in a court of law.

It’s the same with emails and other social websites. Context is everything so don’t give them anything that can be taken out of context.

For the record, I carry a Blackberry, have a PC at the office and at home and consider email a great timesaving device that keeps me in touch. I even read books electronically on Kindle. But technology presents problems for cops that it doesn’t for civilians.

Personally, if I were advising a friend coming on the job, I’d tell him or her to stay off social websites and, if they have a page, to take it down. It’s just too easy to post something that you’ll come to regret.