The Boston Police Department (BPD) is pleased to announce that our twitter feed has officially reached 10,000 direct followers. The BPD is one of the first police departments in the country to make use of this latest social media sensation. Twitter gives our community members the opportunity to sign up and receive frequent tweets on important public safety information ranging from road closures to motor vehicle accidents and much more.
Twitter is part of the BPD Virtual Community, which is our network of outreach methods to provide timely and important crime information to our residents, business owners, and individuals who take an interest in our neighborhoods. The BPD Virtual Community is intended to be a one stop source for public safety news and community alert information.
Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis stated, “The Boston Police Department has been a pioneer in utilizing new technology to enhance our community policing efforts and empowering our residents by keeping them informed. It is encouraging news that our Twitter feed now has 10,000 community followers, and with re-tweeting can reach hundreds of thousands of people with crime alerts and requests for information – easily the most popular and effective police department Twitter feed in the US.”
The following features are also part of our virtual community located at BPDNews.com:
• http://www.crimereports.com – This helpful crime-mapping tool allows community members to visit a user-friendly website and quickly access public safety information specific to the selected neighborhood.
• Citizenobserver – This community e-alert system allows residents to sign up to receive texts and emails from their local district on important public safety information and alerts distributed by their district Community Service Officer.
• Neighbors for Neighbors.com – This is a local neighborhood-based social networking site for people to connect and organize around common interests
• Twitter – The BPD is one of the first police departments in the country to make use of the latest social media sensation, Twitter. Here community members can sign up to receive frequent tweets on important public safety information ranging from road closures to motor vehicle accidents and much more.
• Text-A-Tip – The Boston Police is the first police department in the country to utilize text messaging to allow community members to send information anonymously to our CrimeStoppers Unit.
• Call The Cops – This is the department’s weekly cable show where we strive to use that time to offer community members safety tips and a recap of weekly events. We also try to use this opportunity to personalize a specific unit within the department for people at home. In other words, we might do a “Meet the Harbor Patrol” segment or something on a K-9 officer – what it takes and how you become one, etc.
The community will continue to see enhancements and updates to the BPD Virtual Community located at http://www.BPDNews.com that will reflect our commitment to using technology to inform the citizens of Boston, to enhance communication at the District and neighborhood level and to extend our efforts to use new technology to promote and implement our mission of community policing.