With more than 5000 ''likes'' in about five months, the Dunedin police Facebook page is proving to be a valuable tool, police say.
Since the page was launched in late January, it has been used to help identify alleged offenders, interact with communities, publicise crime prevention and convey safety messages.
Senior Sergeant Mark Crawford said no formal analysis of the page's success had been completed yet, but early signs indicated about a 90% success rate of identifying alleged offenders whose photos were posted.
''We are really pleased with the way the site's been going. We do get a lot of positive feedback from people about the site.''
The page was particularly popular with the 18 to 34 age group and even attracted ''likes'' from users not living in Dunedin, including some from overseas, he said. The possibility of using other social media, such as Twitter, is being looked at.
- Robert Van Royen
