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Uploaded: Thursday, November 8, 2012, 6:05 PM
Palo Alto police to host Twitter 'virtual ride-along'
Friday's event will give glimpse of Palo Alto police work
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by Pierre Bienaimé
Palo Alto Weekly Staff
For anyone who has ever wondered what a day (or night) in the life of a police officer is like, the Palo Alto Police Department will give the public the chance to find out – via Twitter – Friday, Nov. 9, from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
During those eight hours, the department is holding its first-ever "virtual ride-along," according to Lt. Zach Perron.
"A member of our public-information officer team will be riding with a patrol officer and live-tweeting calls for service, crimes in progress, arrests, vehicle accidents and anything else that may come up during the course of the officer's shift on the official Department Twitter account, @PaloAltoPolice," he wrote in a press release.
The goal is to provide insight into the daily realities of a law enforcer.
"I think most people don't understand the full scope of what a law enforcer does, even in Palo Alto. They think that not much goes on here. While we're not a big city, there's a lot of crime and events that go on in the city that largely go unreported, and I think that people will be very interested to hear about that stuff," he told the Weekly.
Perron estimated that the department will send between 50 and 150 tweets, some of which may include pictures and videos. The officer will also accept questions, which can be addressed by mentioning @PaloAltoPolice or using the hashtag #PAPDvra.
The Palo Alto Police Department launched its social media presence in March. It counts more than 700 "likes" on Facebook and more than 1,100 followers on Twitter.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Sweet-Tweets-From-The-PAPD, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 7:26 pm This makes sense. It's a bit of a wonder why it's taken them this long to give this sort of outreach a go.
Given how many times a poster who goes by the handle "Phil from North Palo Alto" has opined that the police could not possible do one thing more because they are so overworked, and underfunded..this exercise will demonstrate that the cost of using Twitter is free, and all these folks have to do is pay attention to their Twitter account, and answer the questions. This is a no-brainer with no expense (other than possibly some overtime for the Public Affairs Officer).
Couldn't hurt if the archive this (and any future) "virtual ridealongs" on the police web-site, too.
By the way, could someone from the Police Department comment on if the officers will be using cellphones, or if the cruisers now have Internet via some other communications protocols?
This a very low-cost way to help educate the public about what goes on out on the street in Palo Alto. Looking forward to the event.
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Posted by Ducatigirl, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 8, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Ducatigirl is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online Sounds like a great idea. People can really get a clue from a day in the life of PAPD.
Realistically, though, how much time would a virtual ride-along consume? Can the ride be terminated at any point?
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Posted by Feels Safe, a resident of another community, on Nov 8, 2012 at 9:17 pm I can see the tweets now
"Officer Smith is reaching for the glazed, no he's going for the jelly filled, this is getting ugly. Call for backup"
I kid, this sounds like a great idea. Just hope it's not a slow day.
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Posted by chini, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 9, 2012 at 7:05 pm This may be a good way to promote Twitter or other such businesses, none of which care much about a person's privacy and requires signup.
If the goal is to provide insights, why not post videos on the city's website, along with police blotter? Using social sites may be fashionable but it might not address the goal either. I won't be able or it might be tedious to search the twitter logs later if I'm unable to join.
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Posted by non twitterer, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 9, 2012 at 7:29 pm You don't have to join twitter to listen in. Here's a link to just get the tweets without being able to respond. Web Link
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Posted by chini, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 10, 2012 at 8:09 am Thanks for the link to query the posts!
However, I generally don't trust the source of twitter posts as much as I would the posts on official websites, which can be verified by looking at the URL. And such posted content on websites can be made available a month later or a year later as one chooses instead of being limited by a search query that brings all relevant and non-relevant recent posts.
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