In an effort to reach their Chinese citizenry more efficiently during times of emergency, American police departments are setting up accounts with Chinese-language social media. 

Near Los Angeles, the southern Californian city of Alhambra turned to Weibo to better address its 850,000 strong Chinese community. Several on-line services and outlets such as AlhambraSource.org already have Chinese-language sections, along with English and Spanish. The city is the first in the nation to use the Chinese microblogging site.

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"Weibo is a very important and useful tool for us to communicate with our Chinese residents. It eliminates the gap between American police officers and residents who don't speak English," Gabriel Ponce, a spokesman for the APD, told China Daily. "We use and update our Weibo page very actively," 

Because China blocks Facebook and Twitter, Weibo also helps all parties on both sides of the Pacific stay in contact. Immigrants and visitors from China who are unfamiliar with Alhambra can also access the service for everyday information.

Police Chief Mark Yokoyama said the idea for the Alhambra Police Department to have a Weibo account began circulating two months ago, and Chinese will be the first language the APD uses to disseminate information other than English.

"As a part of our long-term strategy, we know that the population of Asian immigrants to the United States is continuing to rise, and we know that's going to continue in the San Gabriel Valley, and we know that's going to continue here in Alhambra as well," Yokoyama told reporters from the Pasadena-Star News. "And we also know that the population is going to be younger, and with that younger population they're going to be using social media such as Weibo." 

Yokoyama noted some city residents are wary of phoning information to law enforcement, preferring to text it in. Alhambra is currently developing an Chinese-language 911 texting service, due to be ready next year. 

Updated by a Chinese-speaking volunteer, the APD's Weibo announcements are fairly typical of any law enforcement blog. A Chinese-language post from August 17 simply read: "Last night, there was a car accident in Orange County. Male adult driver suffered minor injuries and was arrested since he had an outstanding warrant." 

TagsAlhambra, california, police