TWEETING police gave the public an insight into the daily life of a top officer yesterday on the first day of the force’s attempt to reach out through social networks.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Hedley stepped in for the injured Deputy Chief Constable Mike Veale and took to Twitter to tell the force’s 4,500 followers what he was doing.

It included a meeting on a long term fraud investigation, in which police are hunting a man suspected of stealing £40,000, and looking at strategies for the policing of the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee.

ACC Hedley, who had not used Twitter before yesterday, said: “This was my first attempt at tweeting and I did not find it as intrusive as I thought I would.

“I certainly will use it in a work environment again and it will be very interesting. Today was a normal Monday with briefings and long-term strategy meetings.

“It does not take anywhere near as much time as I thought it would and I can see how it would be very useful – both for us operationally and for the public to see what we do.”

ACC Hedley, who Swindon residents will know from his public appearances during the disappearance of Sian O’Callaghan, spent much of his career in the Criminal Investigation Department before rising to the upper echelons of Wiltshire Police.

Today, users can follow PCSO Emma Fisher (#PcsoFisher) in Salisbury through her shift 3pm to midnight, while tomorrow, followers can join a shift with police dog-handler Marie Poole and her four-legged friends drugs dog Griffin and general patrol dog ‘Ell (#WiltsDog).

Head of Forensics Barbara Lockwood (#WiltsForensics) will give an insight into the various aspects of forensic work carried out in the force on Thursday, and finally on Friday, Detective Sergeant Joe Saunders from Swindon CID (#CidSaunders) will give an insight into the type of investigations they deal with and how they react to jobs as they happen.

Other Wiltshire Police twitter sites include; @CIDwiltspolice, @marlboroughheast, @calnecop, @trowbridgenpt, @swindoneastcop, @bluznzuz.