Samenvatting

Twitter offers the police a wide range of opportunities for improving communication with citizens. The police can inform large groups of citizens about activities through brief messages and ask citizens for information. In this manner, Twitter can be expected to contribute to police investigations and community policing. In view of these opportunities, it is not surprising that many police departments and individual police officers have started to use Twitter for communicating with citizens. The fact that police Twitter accounts have thousands of followers shows that many citizens are interested in these messages. This article explores current police practices of using Twitter and highlights the expected benefits, possible limitations and perverse effects.