The Kern County Sheriff's Office launched a new Facebook page on Tuesday.
Ray Pruitt, public information officer for KCSO, said this has been an ongoing project for awhile now.
A message from Sheriff Youngblood.
Posted by Kern County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, March 29, 2016
He said they have worked with other law enforcement agencies on what policies and procedures they follow and wanted to make sure they "got it right" before starting the page.
He said the department is working to adapt to the way many people communicate and receive their information these days: through social media.
Pruitt said the new page will be used for a variety of different things such as posting wanted suspects posters, releasing surveillance video or pictures, alerting the public about emergencies, posting about upcoming meetings and keeping the public informed about crime prevention tips.
"We realize the best way to maintain the public's trust is by being as transparent as possible and sharing as much information as we can, as soon as we can," said Sheriff Youngblood.
Donna Clopton is the creator of Oildale Neighborhood Watch Community Action Team. The group is made up of volunteers who are working to unite the Oildale community by fighting crime and providing assistance to those in need.
Clopton is currently subscribed to the KCSO Nixle program which sends out releases about incidents and posts those to her Oildale Neighborhood watch Facebook page. She said she is excited the sheriff's department is using another tool to keep the public informed.
"There was one time, in fact, with the Bakersfield PD where I contacted them through their private messaging and now knowing that the sheriff's department is going to have that. That's great," said Clopton.
Pruitt said he hopes he hopes the new social media platform will get more information out to more people. Overall he KCSO's goal is to keep the community safer by getting information out to the public.
"This will allow us to be more open and more transparent with the public that we're sworn to serve," said Sheriff Youngblood.
If you want to follow KCSO, click here.
