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Police, Fire Departments Turn To Twitter

Posted on: Monday, 13 April 2009, 17:21 CDT

The Milwaukee police department is one of an increasing number of police and fire departments turning to social networking sites such as Twitter to quickly get their word out to the public.

Sites such as Twitter allow users to send text-message “tweets” in 140 characters or less out to large audiences.  The messages can then be read on the Internet or mobile phones within seconds.

"Latest homicide in the city is NOT a random act. Male, 33, shot in 1500 block N. 39. More details as we have them," read a recent “tweet” sent out by the Milwaukee police department to help spread word of a recent murder.   

Some police departments use Twitter to notify the public of traffic disruptions, explain police presence in certain neighborhoods or to provide crime prevention advice.  Other departments employ the service to report more urgent matters, such as school lockdowns,  bomb scares, natural disasters and evacuations.

Those who sign up to automatically receive every tweet from a certain source are called "followers”.  

Currently, public safety “followers” are dwarfed by followers of popular celebrities such as cyclist Lance Armstrong and actress Demi Moore, each of whom has more than 500,000 followers. By comparison, the Milwaukee police department has about 900.

Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz told the Associated Press that non-followers can view the updates as well, and called Twitter a valuable public resource.

"We are trying to reach people in the places they are already going for information," she told the AP.

One potential risk of Twitter is that anyone can go on the site and claim to be the police.  Indeed, the Texas attorney general's office shut down a fake Twitter account named "Austin PD," in March.   The site had roughly 450 followers and employed the official city seal.

The culprit has not yet been arrested.

While that particular case involved tweets that were primarily in a joking vein, the potential for dangerous misinformation exists.

Some, such as Nixle LLC founder Craig Mitnick, say that Web sites like Facebook and Twitter are "meant for social purposes and not for trusted information.”

"It's a bombshell waiting to explode,” he told the AP.

Mitnick’s company offers what it calls a secure "municipal wire" that public agencies can use to broadcast updates instead of turning to sites like Twitter.

Schwartz said anyone concerned about the authenticity of the Milwaukee police tweets can call the department directly.

In addition to Milwaukee’s police department, public agencies throughout the U.S. and Canada are tweeting to get their word out the public   Police departments in cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Richmond, Va., Boulder, Colo., Dalton, Ga., and Mount Pleasant, S.C. and fire departments in Napa, CA., Mesa, Ariz., Charlotte, N.C., Trenton, Mo. and Oradell, N.J. have all joined the growing trend.

Police in Scottsdale, Arizona, are planning to use Nixle, but will also will keep their Twitter account, which currently has 800 followers.

Sgt. Mark Clark told the AP that the Reverse 911 emergency telephone notification system doesn't always work, and that Twitter is useful because many people can check it from their mobile phones.

While Milwaukee and other police agencies use it primarily to direct people to positive stories on their Web sites, the

In Los Angeles, the fire department uses Twitter to both broadcast and receive information. Brian Humphrey, a firefighter and department spokesman, told the AP he monitors keywords such as "LA" and "fire" on Twitter.  He said he was able to get real-time reports on wind direction and flare-ups during the Griffith Park wildfires in 2007 --- information he promptly relayed to firefighters.

Humphrey said he's aware of the risks of relying on tweets, but the department isn't forsaking the mainstream media and other methods of obtaining information.  Rather, the department views networking sites like Twitter as an additional way to reach the public, he said.

The FBI, known as "FBIPressOffice" on Twitter, has amassed more than 2,000 followers since last fall.  

Special Agent Jason Pack tweets about subjects ranging from computer worms to job fairs, fugitives and missing children.

During the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the FBI used its Twitter account to update public information on checkpoints and public transportation that were closed in Washington D.C.

Pack said the FBI is still views its account as a prototype and does not accept tips about crimes or fugitives over Twitter.  

For now, sites such as Twitter are a serving as an educational tool for the public, he said.

"Sometimes their opinions of the FBI are what they see on television," he told the AP, "and when we have a chance to educate folks this is a good venue to do that."

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On the Net:

• Milwaukee police on Twitter
• FBI page

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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