At the weekend I became weirdly obsessed by following Policemen on Twitter.  I don’t know why or how – but I did.  Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that my grand father was a policeman.

Or maybe it comes from my fascination with the relationship between organisations and individuals – typified by the relationship between the police and the public.  Or more interestingly the bobby on the beat and Joe public.

The traditional trusted position of the local community policeman has undeniably been lost over the last 20 years.  The reasons for this change in relationship are many – however, two things really stick out as the drivers of this change
1) The loss of the hyper-local police station, and local bobby on the beat (which I assume has been down to funding cuts – though admittedly don’t really know)

2) The erosion of the “local community” – largely driven by a change in media consumption and improved transport – meaning people no longer socialise so much at a local level, or access services (shopping / post office) at a local level too either.

So I was interested to discover the phenomenon of Tweeting Policemen – the most interesting subset being the “Beat Tweeter” – those bobbies that tweet whilst out the beat.  The two I initially picked up on are @pc6785lewis and @NYPHaxbySNT.

I was particularly taken by @NYPHaxbySNT as he happens to work in a village neighbouring my home in Yorkshire – so I could really connect with what he’s been tweeting about, and was very reassuring to hear about his work from the frontline.

I find this hyper-local use of Twitter extremely interesting in the wider context of the Police’s organisational relationship with citizens, as I have a sense that social media could become the glue that reconnects communities – helping bridge the social gaps previously created by mass media.

+ finally as a wee experiment I’ve set up a Twibe and Twitter group called “TweetBeat” as a mini-hub for all those tweeting bobbies on the beat!   Check + follow it here: TweetBeat