More than 20,000 Twitter followers for Derbyshire Police

The force launched its Twitter site in the summer of 2009 and uses it to share news, appeals and information with followers. Officers also tweet details of special operations and use the account to update people about major road closures or other incidents that may affect them.

By March 2012, 10,000 people were following the constabulary.

The account proved to be so popular that last summer, local Safer Neighbourhood team accounts were established and now 3,900 people follow 33 teams across the county to find out more about the work local officers are doing in their communities.

Almost 1,400 people follow the force’s Football Intelligence Unit account on Twitter for updates on Derby County match days, which was launched last November.

More than 4,200 people now follow the force’s Facebook page, which features news, appeals and photo galleries.

Force web manager Ben Sherwin said: “It seems only yesterday that we were announcing that we had 10,000 followers, so to get to 20,000 in such a short space of time shows the incredible, continued rise in the popularity of Twitter.

“People are increasingly relying on us to provide short, snappy information direct from the source as quickly as possible; be it our latest appeals, crime information or job vacancies.

“It’s great that we can now communicate these useful messages at a very local level with our 33 Safer Neighbourhood officers sharing information and providing a convenient way for people to interact with the people who patrol their streets every day.”