While you were out last weekend, the University of Wisconsin Police Department was out doing what they always do on an average Saturday night — but they were live tweeting it.

As part of its #tweetalong, @UWMadisonPolice tweeted as an officer went around on his normal patrol from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., with the designated tweeter riding shotgun. We got an inside look at what the campus cops are actually up to during the weekend, and it didn’t look nearly as expected.

Officers did everything from routine traffic stops and carting a student with a PBT of .175 to detox to patrolling the Arboretum and doing foot patrol on East Campus Mall. Most memorably, they also tweeted a photo of officers talking to four people who were apparently bold enough to attempt to climb Bascom Hall, saying, “Take note: it is not legal to climb onto the roof of Bascom Hall. Four students cited and released.”

The account’s followers also got a look inside UWPD’s dispatch center and a peak at the department’s 9 p.m. briefing, with photos.

It was essentially a ride-along for the evening without having to leave your house (or the bar), with real-time updates of one officer’s movements throughout — a snapshot of a typical night policing during the busy weekend shift. Most surprisingly: There were no updates shared about writing underage tickets in the residence halls or raiding downtown bars, with the only alcohol-related tweet being about conveying a dangerously intoxicated student to detox. The only slightly sour interaction the officer documented was investigating an “odor of marijuana” at Phillips Hall, where they reported the students would be referred to the dean of students and housing for being uncooperative.

Although it wasn’t the department’s first tweet-along, it was unquestionably its most successful, UWPD spokesperson Marc Lovicott said, and was back by popular demand from the university community.

That popularity – highlighted by students asking questions of the department and retweeting the account’s more humorous tweets – is a smart move for the department.

When students arrive on campus, they often come to view campus law enforcement as nameless, faceless strong men who scheme about how to bust underage drinkers and basement house parties. It’s a perception that isn’t helpful in building trust for law enforcement among the student body, which is critical to a positive working relationship between students and police.

Amid the sea of anecdotal problem-based interactions with police on campus, anything the department can do to humanize its officers and highlight the public safety work they do boosts UWPD’s visibility and reputation on campus.

Lovicott said the department is also on par to be the nation’s top college police department for its number of Twitter followers (they were second last year). While those bragging rights are nice, UWPD’s growing follower count also means they’re reaching an increasing number of students, which is one of the main goals with the Twitter outreach. Reaching as many students as possible over a medium like Twitter is critical when police are trying to quickly disseminate an important message or alert students about crime trends.

While students aren’t likely to invite the police to their house parties anytime soon, fostering the understanding that police are a valuable campus resource rather than a natural adversary also increases the chances that students will contact police for help when it’s needed.

Moving forward, Lovicott said the department is considering doing monthly tweet-alongs, and I hope they do. They’re going about interacting with their community is an engaging, thoughtful way, a stark contrast to the New York Police Department’s recent social media fail, which came when citizens hijacked its cheesy hashtag almost immediately.

By injecting a dose of humor and realism to paint a picture of what policing campus actually looks like, UWPD is taking purposeful action to meet students where they are and be partners in public safety, rather than the scary cops you’d rather jump out a window than talk to at a house party.

Students are the beneficiaries when campus institutions take steps toward more transparency — and UWPD is setting an example that other university leaders should emulate.

Katherine Krueger ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science and journalism.