Wellesley Police Among National Top Tweeters

There are about 3,800 fans of the Wellesley Police Department on Twitter, which makes them one of the most popular in the country.

For a department of its size, the Wellesley Police Department has the third highest Twitter following, according to a recent list from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Center for Social Media. 

The list breaks police department accounts nationwide into a number of categories. With just under 3,800 followers (at the time of writing), for a department of 26 to 49 sworn officers, Wellesley follows top-ranked Bridgwater, Mass. (over 5,800 followers) and Dunwoody, Georgia (over 4,600). 

See the full IACP list on their Center for Social Media website.

"Everything flows a lot smoother when you get information out in a timely fashion," explained Officer Scott Whittemore, one of the officers who runs the WPD Twitter accounts.

Often, he added, tweets with pictures attached get a lot of re-tweets, which helps the department spread information--even if the photo is one hastily snapped on an iPhone at the scene. 

Wellesley Police have not only the well-followed @WellesleyPolice, but a second Twitter account, @WPDphoto, and a Facebook presence, as well as WellesleyPolice.com, which acts not only as a police information site but as a news portal for residents.

The trick, Whittemore says, is to provide "just enough, not too much information. The two accounts let us split it up; it works well for us."

Whittemore said that the mission of these accounts is to keep the public informed. The department is getting a lot of positive feedback about these accounts. 

"When we started in 2007, no one really knew what Twitter was." Whittemore said, "we are fortunate to have the support of the public and the Chief. Without the support of the Chief [Terrence Cunningham], we wouldn't be where we are today."

While @WellesleyPolice has seen steady growth, Whittemore hopes to see more followers. In the time between the IACP's initial ranking (released April 30) and this report, the Department gained nearly over 100 new followers.

Which is most-followed department in the country? Boston, with over 304,000 followers. Mass. State Police are also the top-ranked state police departments with around 62,500 followers.

In fact, Massachusetts-based departments are in the top 10 for eight of the ten categories tracked by the IACP.