First Responders Using Twitter for Fast Dissemination of Public Information

Has Twitter become the police scanner of the 21^st Century? Police in Milwaukee use the social networking site to send tweets out to mass audiences regarding everything from traffic tie-ups to details of an unfolding murder investigation. Milwaukee police have about 900 followers who have signed up to automatically receive every tweet from the department – and non-followers can see updates to the department’s Twitter page too. “We are trying to reach people in the places they are already going for information,” says Anne Schwartz, one of the department’s two Twitterers.

The Los Angeles Fire Department uses Twitter to both broadcast and receive information. For instance Brian Humphrey, LA firefighter, says he monitored keywords like “LA” and “fire” to receive real-time reports on flare-ups and wind directions during the 2007 Griffith Park wildfires. 

And since the fall of 2008, the FBI has used its “FBIPressOffice” on Twitter to post tweets about job fairs, computer worms, fugitives and missing children. During the presidential inauguration, it used the account to update information on checkpoints and subway stations around the Capital. 

Both the FBI and the LA Fire Department say that they are not abandoning traditional ways of communicating and the mainstream media, but they say Twitter is an additional way of reaching people. FBI Special Agent Jason Pack says that he considers social media sites as a good way to educate the public as to the workings of the agency. “Sometimes their opinions of the FBI are what they see on television, and when we have a chance to educate folks, this is a good venue to do that.” 

Law enforcement agencies are keenly aware that there are risks regarding the legitimacy of tweets. One of the risks of Twitter is that anyone can go on the site and claim to be an agency they are not. This happened in March when the Texas attorney general had to shut down a phony Twitter account calling itself “Austin PD.” 

For more details on how law enforcement and other public first responders are using Twitter, see the Associated Press story:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jK1ccMu2r4SRxGWZLZVHQLWjKcZQD97HO9AG2