Authorities use social-networking sites as a tool

When a Richmond convenience store clerk was shot six times during a robbery two weeks ago, city police converged on the scene to hunt for the gunman.

Three days later, with suspects still not in custody, police posted two fuzzy surveillance photos on Twitter.

"Got info?" the caption read under color images of two potential suspects. "Call 514-TIPS."

So far, the "twitpics" haven't helped police make arrests in the June 12 stickup of the Golden Food Market in the 2700 block of Jefferson Davis Highway. But authorities say the jury still is out on how effective the free social networking and micro-blogging service might be in solving crimes.

Social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been used by people who want to keep their friends and families informed about their lives and activities.

Police and fire departments across the country increasingly are plugging into such sites to circulate information to other law-enforcement agencies and the public.

"We're still kind of testing it out a little bit, but we're doing a little bit more every day," said Dionne Waugh, a Richmond police public-affairs specialist who handles the department's Twitter account. "Like putting those photos up, we're checking it out to see" the potential.

Richmond police created a Twitter account March 5, followed by Henrico County police May 21. "What surprised me is how quickly it's grown," Waugh said of Richmond's Twitter site, which had attracted 825 followers as of Friday.

Twitter has surpassed Facebook as the department's most popular networking site. Police opened a Facebook page Jan. 5 and had 788 fans as of Friday.

Henrico police had 134 Twitter followers as of Friday and have posted 13 updates since its inception. Richmond police -- the second law-enforcement agency in Virginia to use Twitter (Portsmouth was the first, Waugh said) -- has posted 180 updates in nearly four months.

By comparison, the FBI has more than 8,400 followers and has posted more than 1,300 updates.

Chesterfield County has Twitter and Facebook accounts, but both remain inactive as county officials design a policy dictating their use.

"It's yet to be determined whether we use individualized Twitter accounts and Facebook pages for the different public-safety agencies in the county," said Barry Condrey, director of Chesterfield's Department of Information Systems Technology.

Chesterfield is redesigning its Web site, and officials are considering a single, countywide Twitter account used by all departments. Under the system, items posted by individual departments on the county Web site would be pushed automatically onto Twitter and Facebook, Condrey said.

Richmond and Henrico still are feeling their way around the new technology. Most of their postings are public service announcements or news about department programs or functions.

On Wednesday, Henrico police posted an alert about expected traffic delays near Richmond International Raceway, site of the IndyCar racing events Friday and Saturday, said Al Harper, the department's information technology specialist. Richmond police "retweeted" the announcement because the event also affected city residents.

"We're still formulating a policy on what we want to send out," said Henrico police Lt. Doug Perry, the department's public information officer who will be posting many of the department's future tweets.

The department hasn't decided whether to post crime information on Twitter. "You can't just throw stuff out there and forget about it," Perry said.

Twitter could be very useful in alerting the public to various emergencies after regular business hours, he said. Supervisors in the department's 911 communications center "could tweet that instantaneously in the middle of the night," Perry said.

Twitter, which has about 5 million users, allows users to send tweets of up to 140 characters to the computers and cell phones of everyone signed up to get them. Police can disseminate information as quickly as the poster can type it and hit send.

Although Richmond police have used Twitter to identify bank robbers and convenience store gunmen, the department thus far has kept to more mundane matters.

Waugh has posted daily crime-prevention tips and even a photo of the giant police head sculpture attached to the side of department headquarters.

"The way we would like to use [Twitter] right now is to let people know the good things that we're doing," Waugh said, "but also let them know immediately if there are road closures [or other emergencies]. That's the best way we have found to use it."

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .