Police embrace emerging social media tool
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Law enforcement agencies across the county are adding a new form of social media to their arsenal of crime fighting tools.
Almost 6,000 law enforcement agencies are now deploying the public notification service Nixle to provide residents with real-time alerts on crimes in progress, traffic messes and missing children.
With the San Francisco-based service approaching 1 million subscribers and police departments participating in major cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Dallas, Nixle is part of what one expert calls a new "blue wave" of community policing that lets cops reach out directly to the public.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police said in a recent survey of 800 law enforcement agencies that nearly 90 percent of them use some form of social media.
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