“We’re just trying to be progressive and trying to get more messages out to the public,” Womack said. “With the number of people using the Internet and the huge market through Facebook, a lot of the younger, tech-savvy officers have been asking for some time to do this.”
Womack said the move is the brainchild of Capt. J.R. Davidson. “He gets all the credit,” Womack said.
Not surprisingly, the Facebook page is full of useful news — good and bad. For example, on Friday, there was a post and photo of a man arrested Dec. 16 for 12 counts of forgery and identity theft. He was in possession of credit cards that had his name on the front but were encoded with stolen credit card numbers in the magnetic strip, according to the Facebook page. The man had made several purchases on Dec. 12 at a Racetrac store, the Facebook post read.
Another post shows photos from the Shop With a Cop event Dec. 16. “Shop with a COP great success today. Thank you D.C. Optimist & (Kiwanis) Club. Thanks to all our PD family who came out. Merry Christmas! Chief.”
It also told of the 150 accidents the DPD worked in a 12-hour time frame from last week’s icy weather and a rollover accident the wife of a DPD lieutenant had that night. She was uninjured.
The photos on the site are not the usual family photo album. While there are six photos from Shop with a Cop, there are also four photos of either people recently arrested or those for whom the department has a lookout to arrest.
The page went up only a week ago, and the response has been positive for such as short time, he said. Womack is posting a couple of messages a day to keep the public informed and is seeking input from the public as to other helpful information they would like to see on the page.
Womack is “tweeting” on the Twitter social networking site as well, which is a new experience for him.
“It’s tough for me to hold it to 140 characters, so I have to get more creative.” Womack said.
People can follow him @ChiefWomack.
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