The Oxford Police Department strives to keep the community informed and involved through an unconventional platform: Twitter.
Major Jeff McCutchen and Lieutenant Hildon Sessums have been co-running the OPD Twitter account for the past three years.
After the summer of 2014, the account having only 47 followers, McCutchen said they decided they wanted to become more active. McCutchen said the Ferguson, Missouri incident made the department want to become more involved in the community.
McCutchen said the lack of communication between the Ferguson police and their community was a part of the problem, and that is what drove OPD towards social media.
“We started talking amongst ourselves and wondering how we can get a better line of communication with our community,” McCutchen said.
The account now averages eight to 10 tweets per day and has reached more than 14,800 followers from all over the country in just the past two years, including many verified accounts, such as the Southern food chain Whataburger.
“We try to get out as much as we can,” McCutchen said, “If there is funny stuff going on, or unique things, we try to put those out as well.”
McCutchen explained that OPD does not post pictures of peoples’ faces or tag them in the tweet to avoid anything tracing back to them.
“We try to give you basically the things that you can hear on a scanner, but we try to be a little more private,” McCutchen said.
The OPD Twitter account has not only gained followers, but also follower interaction. McCutchen said the account receives several noise complaints and crime tips through direct messages.
“It’s growing, and it’s helping us keep everybody informed and carry on the conversation that needs to happen,” McCutchen said.
McCutchen saidt the goal of the account is for people to see the human side of law enforcement.
“I like for us, as a department, to be seen in a good light, and I want people to love their police department,” McCutchen said.
Sessums said he believes the OPD Twitter account is the best form of communication for college students.
“To be able to relate to people through Facebook and Twitter, which a lot of the college people are using, makes them feel like they’re connected to the department,” Sessums said. “And when people feel like they’re connected there’s a greater increase in trust, and that’s what we wanted to create.”
Sessums said the OPD Facebook page is used to communicate about more formal happenings, events and press releases, where as the Twitter account is used more informally.
“Through Twitter, we can instantly reach to over 14,000 people— and with just a few re-tweets, we’ve probably quadrupled it,” Sessums said.
In October, the account received a lot of attention regarding a ‘Twitter war’ with the Gainesville police department before Ole Miss played Florida. Sessums said the previous tweeting to rival schools was an unplanned occurrence.
“It was just spur-of-the-moment and we kind of ran with it,” Sessums said, “People have been asking if we’re going to tweet to LSU or Mississippi State and it just doesn’t feel right.”
Sessums said the purpose of the account is to inform, answer questions and provide feedback to the community.
“A lot goes on in Oxford that the community doesn’t realize and I just wanted to be able to put that out there,” Sessums said.
McCutchen said, in the future, managing the account is likely to become a full-time position so that OPD Twitter followers can see tweets and videos much more frequently.
Sophomore integrated marketing communications major Alexis York has been following the OPD Twitter account for the past eight months.
“I really appreciate the tweets that OPD puts out. It’s comforting to know that they care enough to alert the community through an additional form of communication that reaches thousands of people instantaneously,” York said, “It makes me feel safe and informed.”
