DA to Utilize Twitter to Communicate with Public

Micro-blogs will help DA keep the public in the loop

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that her office has begun using the online micro-blog Twitter to communicate with the public.  The office sent its first “tweet” early Wednesday, announcing this morning’s presentation of the DA’s driver-education program, Choices & Consequence, at MacArthur High School in Levittown.

Twitter is a Web-based service that allows its users to instantly update and post their status and disseminate information to the public in a real-time basis.  Users can sign up and ‘follow’ other users to keep up-to-date with their latest activities.

Rice said that the social networking tool will supplement conventional means of communicating with the public and provide a more direct way to keep people informed about breaking criminal justice information, community events and crime education programs offered by her office.

“We will use this as another tool to keep the public up-to-date about their DA’s office and to announce events and programs that will keep people educated so that they can protect themselves from crime,” said Rice.  “This is just another step we have taken during the last three years to bring the office into the 21st century.”

Rice encouraged the public to register to view the office’s updates at http://www.twitter.com.  The office’s profile is “NassauDA”. The on-line service is free, though if users use their cellular phones to receive SMS (text) updates, standard text messaging rates apply.