Tweeting police nab award

TWEETS about Kayne West, Strictly Come Dancing and cocaine have won a cheeky Police Scotland Twitter account a top social media award.

Lochaber and Skye Police was named best tweeting corporate police account at the UK-wide Police Tweet Awards. It is used by officers in Lochaber and Skye to post community safety messages.

But it is also well-known for tongue-incheek tweets, including one about US hip hop artist Kanye West’s visit to Skye in April with the hashtag #HipHopCops. The music artist was shooting a video on the island. A few months earlier it posted a tweet by Sergeant Bruce Crawford which received nearly 4,000 likes and more than 4,600 retweets after he posted: “If you get back to your house tonight on #Skye and realise your cocaine is missing – we have it in the police station #WeNeedAWord.”

It was later reported that a woman had been arrested over the “unclaimed missing property”. A Police Scotland spokeswoman praised the Lochaber and Skye team for its humorous use of Twitter.