Students and faculty are constantly bombarded with information, a University Police Department officer said, but Facebook and Twitter allow the police department to update the campus quickly with important news in an easy-to-read format.
Lt. Adrienne Murray started a Facebook fan page for the University Police Department in July. She updates it with information about crime prevention, crime statistics and other relevant health and safety tips for students.
The Facebook page was recently updated with information about stalking and the flu pandemic, she said. Students can also access information -- such as the definition of a checkpoint, or crime data from the past three years.
In addition to the information, there is an "Ask an Officer" section on the Facebook Page, Murray said. The section allows students to post questions on a discussion board and a university officer will answer them.
In order to connect to the University Police Department on Facebook, students must "become a fan" of the department's page.
Although several students said they had been worried about the school having access to their Facebook pages, Murray explained that it was not a possibility.
"The U of R Police Department cannot look at students' Facebook pages if they are fans," she said, because a fan page is not the same as a Facebook profile.
Instead, Murray said, the police page acts strictly as a means of providing timely information to the campus about safety.
Last month, Murray also created a Twitter profile for university police. With only 140 characters allowed per Tweet, Murray must take a lot of information and shrink it down in order to compose quick updates, she said.
The university police Twitter page also follows the Twitter pages of the Henrico County Police and the Richmond Police, and it often reposts information from those pages to the Richmond one.
Murray felt inspired to create the page for technologically savvy officers, students and faculty who are not keen on accessing multiple Web sites and constant downloads, she said.
Although the information on the Facebook and Twitter pages aims to keep students updated about safety, many students were also interested in seeing topics such as parking on the sites.
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"It'd be nice if there were updates on what parking lots are available during certain events," senior Ally Barton said.
Although becoming a fan of the university police page and following it on Twitter is a good way to keep current about crime prevention information, students should still sign up on BannerWeb for emergency updates, Murray said.
"The emergency system is completely separate from the Facebook and Twitter pages," she said.
Students can register their cell phones on BannerWeb to receive calls and text messages about imminent dangers on campus. The Facebook and Twitter pages post information in a timely fashion, Murray said, but students can receive emergency information right away if they register their phones.
Contact reporter Ryan Clark at ryan.clark@richmond.edu
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