As alternative services like Bluesky grow, the Seattle Police Department is also pulling back on Twitter but it isn’t about Elon Musk’s politics.

Twelve years ago, the department made news by launching Tweets by Beat, a system of Twitter accounts streaming dispatch information for each of the city’s precinct beats. A typical update? Something like “Beat: E1, SUSPICIOUS PERSON at 1XX BLOCK OF BROADWAY E” along with a date and time the incident was channeled through SPD’s dispatch system.

Earlier, the feeds began updating less frequently as Twitter continued its transition to become X and reduced the amount of automated updates accounts could make under Musk’s ownership. Then, this fall, they stopped updating at all.

Tweets by Beat was dead.

“It is being shut down,” Sgt. Patrick Michaud, head of the department’s public information office, tells CHS. “When we switched our dispatch service over to a new more up to date and useable system, it broke the connection that Tweets by Beat had with the old one.”

Michaud says SPD’s accounts aren’t able to pull information from the new system in a way that can make Tweets by Beat work, either.

The feeds on X have gone dead and rolled back to updates from 2023. They’ll eventually go away completely.

Michaud says the department hopes to find a new way to make similar updates about police activity in specific areas of the city available in addition to its existing sources like its online crime maps that show recent dispatches and the last week’s filed reports.

“We are actively researching new ways to put out the same information,” Michaud said. “We understand that it was useful and our goal in this office is to push out as much useful information as possible.”

Expect updates in the new year.

As for Bluesky, SPD isn’t yet joining the recent exodus and increase of Seattle media accounts on the service that has grown as an X alternative.

Michaud says SPD’s communication efforts are included in the city’s technology policy “so the addition and implementation of any new social media services has to go through them.”

Barriers will include meeting the archiving requirements of mandated public disclosure.

Meanwhile, SPD’s public disclosure resources have enough problems of their own right now.

Are you on Bluesky? You can follow jseattle.bsky.social for CHS updates.

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