OXFORD, Ohio -- She's not a writer or a comedian, but Lt. Lara Fening gets to play a little of both every Monday when she writes weekend updates for the Oxford Police Department's Facebook page.
These aren't buttoned-up rundowns of police activity; they're a bulleted highlight reel of some of the most outrageous incidents Oxford police respond to each week, scrubbed of suspects' identifying information.
Because Oxford is a college town, many involve underage drinking.
"A 19-year-old intoxicated female presented a fake ID to police to identify herself," one update reads. "When we ran the license and it came back to a 57-year-old man…hmm. We just knew something was off."
Fening said she began writing the updates with a playful tone because she believes comedy brings people together, and her department has noticed less hesitance from civilians to approach officers since they began.
"It's been really popular," she said. "I may go in uniform and go to the grocery store and get a pack of gum, and people ask about the weekend update."
She added that she is careful to keep the tone light and not cover serious crimes or draw undue attention to delicate situations. Instead, Oxford weekend updates tend to focus on drinking, property damage and theft -- inexplicable nudity makes a frequent guest appearance in all three.
"It's transparency for us," she said. "We wanted them to see what we were doing so that they have some kind of pulse on the police department."
