ARLINGTON — Arlington police are gaining national and international attention in their use of social media.
On Monday, an NHK Japanese television crew followed two Arlington police officers as they did a "tweet-along."
“These are the tools we use that we think can reach a bunch of people," said Zhivonni McDonnell, the department's social media coordinator.
Arlington police have some 3,400 followers on Twitter and thousands more on other sites.
“We want to keep them informed with everything... everything we can give them that we think is important for them to know, we want to push out through our social media," McDonnell said.
When an officer was wounded in a shootout earlier this month, the department’s media team dispatched information via Twitter.
Noboru Nakashima is NHK's Los Angeles bureau chief. He and his crew spent Monday documenting the Arlington program that he says is cutting-edge.
“Here in Arlington, they're doing a very good job giving some quick information; accurate, quick information, right away," Nakashima said.
The Dallas and Milwaukee police departments have also started hosting tweet-alongs after seeing the work Arlington has been doing.
Arlington police they hope their online efforts will help them build trust on the street.
Since joining Twitter, the Arlington Police Department has tweeted more than 2,300 times.
E-mail mmoore@wfaa.com
