Sgt Jon Biddle: Twitter Cop

Brockley's Safer Neighbourhoods Sergeant is taking part in a pilot project to use Twitter to connect wilth local residents. The police say:

Called @MPSBrockleySgt, PS Jon Biddle will keep local residents informed of his whereabouts and that of his team, update the community with news, safety advice and preventative measures, promote police surgeries and events, re-Tweet any useful information from relevant and local sources and generally use the medium of Twitter to engage with his local residents in his ward.

PS Jon Biddle, said: "I am always looking at new ways of engaging with the community I serve and I think it is important that we explore different communication methods available to speak to the public . I have only been using Twitter for a couple of weeks but already I have been able to use it to send out crime statistics and prevention advice, it allows me to communicate with different members of the community my team serve."

The police have been using Twitter at a borough level for some time, but this service provides a fascinating extra layer of detail, even if it does occasionally lapse in to Dixon of Dock Green entreaties to lock all your doors and windows. It would be easy to become unhealthily obsessed with the number of burglaries and car thefts they deal with, but Biddle is also good at tweeting to tell us that no crimes have been committed.

For example, Biddle's latest tweet at the time of writing:

Just received the reported overnight Crime Stats for #brockley no burglaries, robberies or car crime. Triple excellent!!! #Together