Let's talk about crime watch accounts! I have mixed feelings. On one hand, the public staying informed is a great thing—but a barrage of raw unverified reports from around town can make you feel you're in a warzone, even if you've personally never seen/experienced violent crime.

Another issue with crime watch accounts is that they are close to 100% police perspective with little to no follow-up. You usually aren't going to hear from witnesses, suspects, victims, etc., and you may not hear if a reported crime happened differently or didn't happen at all.

Crime watch accounts also tend to get a following and strong interactions from people who don't live in the neighborhood. A bunch of people from rural Minnesota piling on about something happening in North Minneapolis can amplify prejudice and misinformation.

With that said, if you're going to follow crime watch accounts, be judicious about which one—and make sure that if you see something and it affects your feelings about public safety, seek follow-up stories from journalists who take a deep-dive into the events.

This isn't just crime watch accounts. I got an alert on Citizen about a shooting near me that was filled with comments about ‘Somali gangs’ within minutes. It never happened. The corporate (usually TV) media can also sensationalize crime, but you at least know who runs them.

So who in Minneapolis should you follow? Journalists like @StribJany, who does the agonizing work of covering violent crime in detail, with follow-ups, with perspective from the local community, while always seeking to improve, and who also covers stories about police wrongdoing.

If you want to follow a crime watch account, CrimeWatchMpls is overtly racist and fear-inducing, in my opinion. But @TCCrimeWatch has a background in journalism and wants to do good. He tweets out follow-ups to news org's stories. Give him feedback if you don't like something.