Police Tweets

The New York Times APP on my Iphone allowed me to stumble upon this article about the city of Seattle's Police Department using Twitter. 

The City has begun using "Tweets-by-beat" to help keep citizens of the city informed of crime.  John Diaz, Police Chief, told the times that "more and more people want to know what's going on in their piece of the rock, specifically they want to know what's going on in the areas around their home, work and schools." He believes this is just another way to get as much information out as quickly as possible.

The system does have a few safety nets built in. For example to prevent media crowds at the scene of an accident or crime, the system has an hour delay on all tweet updates.  Another safety net, intended to protect the victim, were the exclusions of sex crimes and domestic violence.

One down side of the system is tweet comments, which could aid in an investigation, are stored by the system and not checked often.  Additionally critics of the program say the program could make people feel more vulnerable.

Personally I find this to be an innovative way to help keep citizens informed.  Previously the only way to stay informed about crime in an area was a media outlet such as a newspaper or news station. This approach requires an article to be written and the crime to be news-worthy enough to be included in the report.  The twitter project has the potential to dramatically cut the time problem, and as always with the internet, provide a level playing field for every crime story, no matter how small or insignificant it might be.