Devon and Cornwall's Chief Constable takes to Twitter to talk to the public

Have you got a question you’d like to ask Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer?

Mr Sawyer will be taking to social networking site Twitter today (Monday August 19) and tomorrow (Tuesday August 20), to answer questions and issues being raised by anyone following the hashtag #LiveChiefTweet.

The Chief Constable will be tweeting from Devon and Cornwall’s main account @DC_Police which already has more than 20,000 followers and will also be talking to local media about the events and how the tweeting has gone.

Mr Sawyer said: “I want to utilise as many channels as possible to talk to the public and using social networking is a big step forward for me.

“The Force already has a large Twitter following and this gives people who I might not meet in daily life a chance to speak to me directly.

“Policing has changed dramatically in recent years and using technology innovatively is a big part of that. If I can speak to people honestly and openly via sites like Twitter, that has to be a really positive thing.”

On both days the Chief Constable will be tweeting and taking Twitter questions between 9am and 11.30am, having already spoken to local media about the initiative in morning news programmes. Monday’s conversation will be Devon, Plymouth and Torbay focussed, with Tuesday looking west towards Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Mr Sawyer added: “I’m looking forward greatly to having the chance to talk with such a wide and diverse audience. Twitter is not a medium I’ve used like this before, so keeping my responses to 140 characters will be a real challenge.

“I’m hoping for some constructive and rich debate and I’ll be very interested to hear people’s views and experiences of engagement with my officers and staff.”

You can follow and take part in the conversation on Twitter @DC_Police from 9am on Monday August 19  2013. Please remember to follow the hashtag #LiveChiefTweet.