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WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Police Service has joined the twitterverse, part of a move toward being a more open department.

The Winnipeg Police Service (@wpgpolice) sent out its first tweet early Tuesday:

Ride along with the #Winnipeg Police Service. Follow us @wpggpolice http://t.co/7GLlhO0W1j — Winnipeg Police (@wpgpolice) October 29, 2013

The jump to Twitter, a revamped website and more activity on the police YouTube account all signal the service is trying to engage the community, Det.-Sgt. Natalie Aitken said Wednesday morning.

“It’s going to be a change in culture for us, and our chief has embraced it,” Aitken said. “We want accurate information getting out.”

She cited the Boston Marathon bombings and the Newtown school shootings as examples of situations in which inaccurate information was circulating and police departments used Twitter to dispel rumours and inform the public.

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Closer to home, the release yesterday of a YouTube video of a man attacking a bus driver has received a lot of attention, and police are hoping it will lead to an arrest, Aitken said.

“That was a horrific offence,” she said. “We want to locate that individual.”

Police also plan to tweet inside information to followers – for example, a photo of the inside of an ident van or a tweet-along (instead of a ride-along) with police on the job.

“Just an inside look at what we do,” Aitken said.

The local force is far behind other major municipal forces on the social media tool. The Toronto police joined Twitter on Sept. 15, 2008.

Police forces have famously used Twitter to discourage illegal activity as well as monitor others’ activities.

York Regional Police famously responded to a tweet in August that asked “Any dealers in Vaughan wanna make a 20sac chop,” a slang request for drugs. The Twitter user also requested that the dealer deliver the drugs to a Mr. Lube location.

York police replied this way:

Awesome! Can we come too? MT @Sunith_DB8R Any dealers in Vaughan wanna make a 20sac chop? Come to Keele/Langstaff Mr. Lube, need a spliff. — York Regional Police (@YRP) August 13, 2013

The department then tweeted the request for drugs to the man who owns Mr. Lube.

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The exchange earned major kudos for the department, and the tweeter who was seeking the drugs lost his job.

Other Manitoba police forces have been slow to join Twitter, as well – the Brandon force joined on July 9 and the Manitoba RCMP joined just last month, on Sept. 26.

Here are the dates various forces joined Twitter:

Toronto – Sept. 15, 2008

Calgary – Jan. 15, 2009

Ottawa – Mar. 12, 2009

Regina – June 10, 2009

Hamilton – Oct. 23, 2009

Halifax – Nov. 15, 2009

Montreal – March 25, 2010

Saskatoon – June 1, 2010

Edmonton – Aug. 20, 2010

Vancouver – Oct. 1, 2010

Brandon – July 9, 2013

Manitoba RCMP – Sept. 26, 2013

The Winnipeg Police Service has been holding the @WPGpolice Twitter handle since Aug. 20, 2012, but sent out its first tweet at 5:06 a.m. Tuesday.

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