CorpComms Magazine

In an effort to stop car thieves who steal an average 9.9 vehicles per day, the Seattle Police Department has announced plans to publish information on stolen cars on Twitter.

Using the account twitter.com/getyourcarback, the police department will publish the colour, year, make, model, body style and number plate of every stolen car. The first tweet was despatched on 1 December after a brown, 1984 four door Toyota Camry with a Washington licence plate 455 XGP had been stolen. Anyone who spots the stolen car is told 'Do not make contact - call 911'.

When a car is reported stolen, a police officer must get the owner to sign a report which is then called into the dispatch centre for tweeting.

Mike Edwards, president of the Seattle Police Guild, said criminals have been using social networks to boast about their prowess, even tweeting from houses they have broken into.

'It's just one more thing they're using so we want to use it too,' he said. Seattle police recover about 80 per cent of the 3,000 vehicles stolen every year, but it is hoped that tweeting will reduce car thefts by a further ten to 20 per cent.

Followers will not receive tweets when cars are recovered.

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