Police are being tailed on microblogging site
To serve, to protect, to tweet. That could be the new slogan for the Modesto Police Department and the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department. Both agencies now are using the social networking and microblogging site Twitter to send out news alerts, known as "tweets" in Twitter parlance.
Twitter allows users to post updates about what they're doing at any given moment. Updates are limited to 140 characters. Users can follow tweets from friends and strangers. Twitter has skyrocketed in popularity recently, in part because of such celebrity tweeters as Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore.
The site, which is free, boasts close to 10 million users, according to a report from Internet tracking firm Comscore.
But police spokesman Sgt. Brian Findlen said he wasn't aiming to be trendy when he hopped on Twitter a few months ago.
The Police Department joined Twitter as a way to broadcast useful information quickly, he said. For example, in February Findlen posted a Twitter update about a three-car collision at McHenry and Stoddard avenues, warning drivers to expect delays.
Tweets can be read or posted from mobile phones. The Modesto department is one of a number of law enforcement agencies across the country taking advantage of Twitter's real-time capabilities.
"Media is changing so quickly that I think it's our obligation to at least explore other ways to disseminate information, especially if it can get people information that they need to know," Findlen said.
The Modesto Police Department started its Twitter account in January. The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department followed shortly afterward. As of Friday evening, the Police Department's Twitter feed had 343 followers, with more followers joining by the hour. The sheriff's department had 100 followers.
Who are these followers?
So who's reading tweets about murder and mayhem in Modesto? The Police Department's Twitter followers run the gamut from — if their online profiles are to be believed — a Los Angeles-based assignment editor for CNN, to a Tracy real estate agent, to the daughter of blues singer John Lee Hooker.
Findlen said he's been surprised to see followers from other parts of the country. Among them are Telford, Pa., resident Cheryl Brownlee, Marina resident Suzanne Cook-Turner and San Francisco resident Becky Quinlan. All once lived in or near Modesto. They follow Modesto police tweets to keep up with local news.
Quinlan, a former TV reporter, said she likes Twitter because it's a "one-stop shop," that delivers news directly to users. She doesn't have to waste time visiting dozens of sites. Quinlan likes to keep tabs on Modesto because she has family members who live here.
Others said they follow local law enforcement tweets for professional reasons. Follower Cory Nykoluk works at 5.11 Tactical, a Modesto company that makes equipment for law enforcement agencies. He said he reads police tweets to stay informed about his clients.
Likewise for Tiffnie Akiona, who works at Modesto Junior College in a program that encourages low-income teenagers to attend college. Akiona said she often visits rough neighborhoods as part of her job, so she likes to stay abreast of breaking crime news. The service also helps her connect with students from those neighborhoods, she said. When she visited Downey High School recently, a student told her about a shooting in his neighborhood. Akiona already had seen news of the shooting on Twitter.
Easy-to-digest format praised
Akiona said she doesn't watch television news because it's too depressing, but she likes to know what's going on. Twitter, she said, provides information in an easy-to-digest form. Akiona's boyfriend, Daniel Versola, 27, said he gets all of his local news from Twitter feeds, including ones from The Modesto Bee and Modesto police.
He doesn't watch TV news or visit newspaper Web sites, he said. "For the Gen-Xers, this is the way we are, and this is the way we communicate," Versola said.
One risk of Twitter is that anyone can go on the site and claim to be the cops. In March, the Texas attorney general's office shut down a phony Twitter account called "Austin PD," which had about 450 followers and used the official city seal.
The culprit has not been arrested, so his or her intent is not known. Mainly the tweets were in a joking vein, such as "Warming up my radar gun for SXSW," a reference to Austin's South by Southwest music and media conference.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bee staff writer Leslie Albrecht can be reached at lalbrecht@modbee.com or 578-2378.
This story was originally published April 17, 2009 at 10:59 PM with the headline "Police are being tailed on microblogging site."