Hillsdale Police Department's Twitter Among Most Popular in U.S.

The Hillsdale Police Department has one of the most-followed Twitter accounts among similarly-sized agencies across the country.

The account, @HillsdalePDNJ, is ranked sixth in the country among law enforcement agencies with between 16 and 25 sworn officers, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Center For Social Media.

Running the account is a collaborative effort headed by Police Officers Adam Hampton and William Diedtrich, according to Police Chief Chip Stalter. As of publication, the account had 1,246 followers.

Hillsdale Police were an early adopter of Twitter, having joined in 2009. They post a variety of information on the feed, including alerts for bad weather and traffic, general safety tips and info about community events. 

Stalter said the department uses multiple tools to get information to residents, including reverse 911 phone calls and their website in addition to the Twitter account. Following major events like Hurricane Sandy, it's important to have various means of communication in case one of them stops working, he said. They also recently created a Facebook page.

"With all the redundancies, you hope the information gets out there," Stalter said.

Check out the department's Twitter feed here.

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