Social media users reach out to police
It took just nine minutes to reunite one grateful owner with their stolen property after thousands of people "shared" photographs posted by police on social media from a camera they found.
That time is a record but not the only success story as WA Police embrace technology to reach hundreds of thousands of people via their seven Facebook and 78 Twitter accounts, many updated daily by officers on the front line.
In another case, officers used Facebook to appeal for public help to track down an 85-year-old man who has dementia after he left his Woodvale home on a gopher and did not return.
One of the 92,000 people who saw that post on one of the WA Police Facebook pages called authorities after seeing a man of a similar description travelling on a gopher.
Using their information, police found the man and took him back to his family.
Almost 200,000 people "like" and follow the police Facebook pages, while their Twitter accounts have 45,000 followers between them.
Insp. Rob Harrison said he believed WA Police were leading the way nationally with social media and the internet was a great way to quickly share information about investigations, emergencies, local crimes and successes.
Officers are also using social media to engage with the community and improve public perception of police, with humorous posts from Kensington police station among the most shared.
"These posts . . . humanise police, the officers get to talk directly to their community and they get plenty of shares and retweets, which build our audience," Insp. Harrison said.
Anecdotes about the police dogs and horses are among the most popular with the Horse With No Name competition attracting 14,000 entries.
Police call their social media followers "FBI - Facebook Investigators" and say they play a valuable role in helping officers.
Sen. Const. Michael Slaughter, who works with Crime Stoppers, said whenever someone "liked" or "shared" a post, they were pushed to a wider audience, increasing the chances of finding someone who was able to help.
"It doesn't matter how many calls Crime Stoppers gets, we just need one call to make a difference," he said.
