GBI to use social media for crime alerts

By Elise Hitchcock

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The public will soon be able to receive child abduction and other crime alerts through their Twitter or YouTube accounts.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Monday that emergency information will be available via social media beginning July 15.

The GBI currently releases alerts through the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, which informs the public through radio and television messages.

Adding social media to the mix will help spread the word more quickly to an increasingly mobile audience.

"You've got situations where early notification [to] the public is critical,"  said John Bankhead, director of public affairs for the GBI.

A Levi's Call, established in the late '90s, alerts the public to child abductions. The last Levi's Call was issued two weeks ago and, because of an alert on a highway sign, a trucker was able to identify the car with the child inside,  Bankhead said.

Other alerts will include Mattie's Calls, which inform the public when an elderly or disabled person is missing and Kimberly's Calls, which alert the public when violent criminals are at large.

In 2010, Blue Alerts were put in place to inform the public when a criminal who has killed or seriously injured an officer is at large or when an officer is missing. The first and only time the Blue Alerts have been used was in the March 2011 shooting of two Athens police officers, Bankhead said.

The public can sign up for the alerts July 15, said Jere Pigue, president of Georgia Association of Broadcasters.

"I think the use of social media in foreign countries has demonstrated how they can benefit the general public on almost an immediate basis," Pigue said.