Forks Township Police to Launch Facebook Page

is going social media friendly.

Police Chief Greg Dorney said the department is going to soon have its own page on Facebook as a way to bolster communications with the community.

"Social media is how most people are active today in communicating," Dorney said. "Therefore I believe it's important that law enforcement participate as well."

Throughout the county, many police departments are starting to use Facebook to help spread the message by posting press releases, mugshots of criminals, alerting the public about various crimes and keeping citizens informed about what the department offers.

"Communication of municipal law enforcement agencies to the residents of their respective communities is very important," Dorney said. "I think if you look throughout the state, the more progressive police agencies are all heading in that direction; it's all about modern police practices."

Like other municipalities, Forks Township offers citizens a website segmented with information about various offerings like a town's history, programs and services, press releases and information on how to contact officials. This past year, the township also created a separate website for its parks and recreation department.

Township Supervisor David Billings believes that more must be done.

"I have always felt the township needs to improve our social media presence," said Billings, who recently launched a supervisor page so he can express his views. "In the long term, I continue to hold out hope that we will create a Forks Township Facebook page."

Billings applauded the chief for utilizing social media.

"The police Facebook page will improve communication between the public and the police department," Billings said. "It is a great step in getting information quickly to the public, especially during emergency situations."

Dorney said personally he doesn't "have contact or interest in social media sites. I have no Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn, etc."

"It's just not for me," the chief said.

But he hopes it will be helpful for the township.

"It is my hope that it provides us another tool to communicate with our residents," the chief said. "We shall see how it goes."