Evanston Police Chief to Host 'Twitter Ride-Along'

The following press release was submitted by the city of Evanston:

"Who knows what could happen during a police officer’s shift? The City of Evanston is inviting our friends on Twitter to follow Chief of Police Richard Eddington as he works the street alongside his officers on Friday, November 22, 2013. The Chief will respond to calls, interact with the public and handle incidents, all of which will be tweeted in real time via twitter.com/EvanstonPD. His patrol shift will begin with roll call at 2:45 p.m. and conclude at about 10:15 p.m.

For the past two years, the Evanston Police Department participated in a virtual “Tweet Along,” tweeting out police calls from the Police & Fire Communications Center. This year, the “Tweet Along” will be enhanced as it moves out of the station and onto the streets.

The Evanston Police Department, under the leadership of Chief Eddington, promotes communication with the public through the use of social media, resulting in many interactions with the public via Facebook, Twitter, and the anonymous text-a-tip program. Also fundamental to the Evanston Police Department’s success in community policing, is their face to face interaction with the residents and business community they serve.

Chief Eddington has been serving in law enforcement for almost four decades and has served as Evanston’s Chief of Police since 2007. He has seen the transition from officers only having in-car two-way radios to the modernization of in-car computers, to now being able to tweet police activity directly to followers viatwitter.com/EvanstonPD. For more information, please call 3-1-1."