Local police dept. asking residents to connect with social media

“It’s a resource for us as well as an outlet,” said Greenfield Police officer Daniel Sotello.

Recent surveys show more and more law enforcement agencies are using social media as crime fighting tools.

“If you put it out on social media and say we’re looking for someone we’ll definitely have more viewers and people listening to us on social media than if we were just to put the word out,” said Sotello.

The Santa Cruz County Sherriff’s Office has a little more than 11,000 likes on its Facebook page.

The Greenfield Police Department is amping up its social media game.

“Most people do have cellphones so that’s just one way for us to connect with the community,” said Sotello.

Sotello says since the department joined Facebook and Twitter this year they’ve already used it to hunt down suspects, either by checking feeds or people giving them information.

“They don’t want to put their name out there so it’s just a good way to have a dialog,” said Sotello. “They don’t have to literally put their name out there, they don’t have to come to the police department. They can contact us on Facebook and have some conversation.”

The department also believes through social media they can build a stronger relationship with the younger generation.

“A lot of teenagers they tend to spend a lot of time on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and all of those,” said 16-year-old Greenfield Police Explorer Nancy Correa. “So if the police department has a chance to be involved in the social media too and it’s a better chance to connect.”

The department is even hosting social media workshops to help community members set up Facebook and Twitter accounts to keep the line of communication open.

“When we’re working an incident we get contacted a lot whats going on, I live over here can you tell me anything,” said Sotello. “If we can get it out on social media it will be a lot easier and then they don’t have to ask the question or come closer to a crime scene possibly.