Local beat police join Facebook

Police officers in West Yorkshire have joined the social networking website Facebook to keep in touch with the young student community they patrol.

Residents in parts of Leeds can now find out about anti-crime projects and campaigns after the city's inner local police team set up its own profile.

The aim is to interact with the university's population who live in the area and use the site regularly.

Sgt Lee Fletcher said the scheme was initially a trial in one area.

"It provides us with a way of getting crime prevention messages out to people and details of how to get in touch with us and let out local residents know what kind of intiatives are ongoing in their area," he said.

West Yorkshire Police has been publishing appeal videos on YouTube for a year and set up a force-wide Facebook page six months ago, but this is the first profile to be updated by local officers.