At Ohio University, police officers are no longer inaccessible uniforms on bikes and in cars. Now, they’re just a tweet away.
At Ohio University, police officers are no longer inaccessible uniforms on bikes and in cars. Now, they’re just a tweet away.
The Ohio University Police Department has garnered a strong online presence of nearly 2,000 followers since they joined Twitter in July 2010; the department uses humor as one means of appealing to their audience.
Lt. Tim Ryan, OUPD’s head of criminal investigations, is one of the officers who uses @oupolice to not only update students on criminal activity in and around the university, but to build a communication link between the police force and the students.
Ryan said the account tweets a variety of posts. The account tweets more than campus crimes; it attempts to give a human side to OUPD’s officers and their daily duties.
While he is not exactly sure of the circumstances surrounding the account’s creation, Ryan said the “nature of (his) position” was what led to his involvement with the page.
“I’m also in charge of investigations here … so it kind of makes sense for me to have that access (to the page),” he said.
But the social network is also used to bridge the gap between the police department and public perception.
“It is better for our community outreach; it allows us to interact with people in a different way, an easier way for some people,” Ryan said.
Although the content on the page is largely serious in nature, Ryan said @oupolice ensures that they also use some lightheartedness to appeal to their followers, who are largely composed of university students.
“I think it is important (to use humor) when it is appropriate, (but) obviously we wouldn’t do it in every situation,” Ryan said.
According to Ryan, Chief of Police Andrew Powers is the account’s primary tweeter.
“If there’s something funny, it was probably the chief,” Ryan said.
While they cannot tweet every department action because of safety reasons, Ryan said they do not necessarily have a rule of what they can and cannot say online.
“Certainly we would not tweet out people’s names if it was not appropriate to do so,” Ryan said.
According to Ryan, it depends on what is considered public record and what is not.
“If one of us finds something relevant” or when a crime alert goes out, the page will be updated.
The account has increased in its popularity recently, said Ryan.
Ryan said @oupolice has been attempting to publicize their account by tagging people in their posts and tweeting to others.
“Trying to interact with people has been the biggest way to increase our following,” Ryan said.
He said they are currently trying to gain a wider scope of followers and to generally increase the traffic on their page.
“We know there’s a lot of people we’re not reaching yet and so we’re definitely still trying to build our user base,” he said.
This realization proves important for the department, as some students do not know of the account or do not have much interaction with it.
“I see people retweet it, but I don’t follow it,” Rachel Lewis, a senior studying video production, said.
She said the “email blasts” the police department sends students are enough to keep her informed.
Others, like Margaux Aschinger, said she looks at the account during big events and weekends, including Halloween weekend.
“I guess I did look at it on Halloween, but I don’t follow it,” Aschinger, a sophomore studying journalism, said.
OUPD wants the community at large to “get to know the police better (and) find out what’s going on in the community,” Ryan said.
As far as the differences between @oupolice and @OUScanner, Ryan said the reason the department’s account is different is because they are not only trying to send out information to the community.
“We don’t do what @OUScanner does,” Ryan said. “We are specifically trying to build relationships with our community and its not just about factual this is what’s going on all the time.”
If you are interested in learning more about what the police department is doing or want to have up-to-date information on local crimes, follow @oupolice.
@w_gibbs
wg868213@ohio.edu
