By Alyssa Schnugg
Staff writer
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com
The Oxford Police Department is giving citizens a chance to see what a Friday night is like for police officers without having to leave their Lazy-Boys through OPD’s virtual ride-along on Twitter.
The virtual ride-along, under the hashtag name #RideWithOPD, starts at 6 p.m. Aug. 24 and lasts through the night shift, ending at 6 a.m. Saturday.
Capt. Hildon Sessums, who helped kick off the popular Twitter event, will be at the helm Friday night.
Seeing the need to improve transparency and community relations between citizens and law enforcement after the events in Ferguson, Missouri, Sessums stepped up OPD’s social media presence.
The virtual ride-along started in 2016.
“We try to do them twice a semester,” Sessums said Friday morning.
Sessums said the feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive.” OPD now has more than 36,420 followers on Twitter from all over the country.
“We do this for a few reasons,” he said. “The first reason is to open a dialogue within the community. All too often people see police officers as unapproachable. This gives people the opportunity to interact with a police officer and show them that we are human just like them.
“Another reason is to show what we actually deal with in the Oxford community. This ‘little town’ has a lot that goes on that a lot of folks just don’t know about. It gives them a chance to see it.”
