POLICE in the Isle of Man started using social networking sites to communicate with the public in May.

The Isle of Man Constabulary set up Facebook and Twitter sites as a way of improving their communication with the media and the public.

Inspector Derek Flint explained: "Rather than an interactive page these ones will purely be a feed of information especially for those short, timely messages we need to get out quickly.
 
"We have set it up so that Facebook is the main link and Twitter also picks up the messages making them easily available to users of mobile devices.
 
"We need to find out if this is sustainable for ourselves and whether people find it useful so we will run until the end of June and then carry out a review.
 
"As well as how manageable we have found it to operate the views of the public and the press will be really important to find out if there is an appetite for this sort of information feed here on the Island.
 
"It is important for people to remember this isn't a method to report crimes or incidents to us. For that they will have to still call into police stations or use the telephone to speak to us. But who knows what we might be doing in years to come!"
  
Update: Following the trial the Isle of Man Constabulary continues to use social media. Posts range from appeals for help in tracing missing people, public service announcements and appeals for information. 

This story is part of isleofman.com's Review of the Year 2011.