JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – It’s a trend that many police departments nationwide are jumping into; joining social media.

The networking tool has opened a lot of doors for departments across the nation, helping them to humanize themselves with the general public and giving them access to share information in a quicker fashion.

Officer Andrew Staska manages the Jamestown Police Department Facebook page. Within that year, they’ve already gained over 1,700 followers. While the page is still new, Officer Staska says they’ve already gotten a lot out of it.

Officer Staska is also the School Resource Officer for the school district. He says using social media allows the department to “humanize” themselves with community members.

Social media usage between departments has continued to grow. A 2013 social media survey from the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that 96 percent of police departments use social media in some capacity. 80 percent say it helped them solve crimes and 73 percent of agencies said it helped improve police-community relationships in their jurisdiction.

“A way for the citizens of Jamestown, North Dakota to connect with their department,” their Facebook page states. Officer Staska says they’ll continue to use the page and hopes that individuals take a chance to see what they have to share, say and report on.

You can follow the department by liking Jamestown nkyhs|var|u0026u|referrer|yines||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
ND Police Department or follow Officer Staska at SRO Staska.

Listen to a full interview with Officer Staska below: