Sitrick And Company has added Yael Bar tur, who recently served as Director of Social Media for the New York City Police Department as Senior Social Media Specialist to the firm’s Digital and Social Media Practice.

Ms. Bar tur joins Sitrick with more than 15 years of experience in social media working with government, law enforcement, military and public sector clients. Prior to Sitrick, she served as Director of Social Media for the New York City Police Department, where she created the NYPD’s current concept of decentralized communications and ran all social media platforms for the nation’s largest police force.

Michael Sitrick, founder, chairman and CEO of Sitrick And Company, said the addition of Ms. Bar tur further elevates the firm’s highly sophisticated in-house social and digital media capabilities. Ms. Bar tur will join a team that acts as a rapid response squad for the analysis and implementation of digitally-focused messaging and strategy.

“We are thrilled to have Yael join our team,” Mr. Sitrick said. “She brings an immense set of cutting-edge social media and technological skills that will enhance our digital operations and services that we provide to our clients.”

Previously, Ms. Bar tur developed strategy, training guides for social media, crisis management and policing, and trained hundreds of members of service on the use of social media, both in the NYPD and in other agencies.

Born and raised in Israel, she served in the Israeli Army as a foreign press liaison. Her work has been featured in Mashable, Wired, American Police Beat and Police One Magazine. In 2016 she was named as one of the International Association of Chiefs of Police “40 under 40,” and in 2018 she was awarded the Hemmerdinger Award for Excellence by the New York City Police Foundation.

Ms. Bar tur holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a B.A in Government and Counterterrorism from Reichman University in Israel.