Bend Police waded further into the online pool Wednesday announcing its own Twitter account.

“Police departments around the world are using social media as a means of sharing information with their communities,” read the statement, released by email, from the department. “The city of Bend Police Department plans to distribute up-to-date information regarding such incidents as emergencies, missing person cases, and traffic crashes.”

Twitter is an online service, the hallmark of which is that each message, or tweet, is limited to 140 characters.

The department already makes use of raidsonline.com to map crime reports.