Alberta Mountie takes to Twitter to stir up new historical homicide leads

It’s the first of its kind for the RCMP, a personalized, professional Twitter account in which its owner is hoping it will help in the area of historical homicides.

RCMP Corporal Kerry Shima and his team are working with 200 open case files at any given time, and he’s hoping his new Twitter handle will create some new leads.

“We’re just trying something new. Reaching out through social media is something that hasn’t been done historically with the RCMP by specific officers, and I felt this was a way to connect at a more personal level with people who might have information about my investigation,” Shima told 660 NEWS. “It’s a smart, interactive way for people to speak to me and for me to get information back to them.”

Shima says the biggest appeal of Twitter is the turn-around of information, seeing the retweets, and the ability to see comments from users who you also follow.

“Seeing that, I think there is also some satisfaction in seeing people are reading our story and the information is getting out as well, something that’s not typically done, and we’re already seeing from this afternoon some significant interaction,” he said.

The Historical Homicide Unit has been working in a team of 10. Shima himself is the primary investigator on the Stephanie Stewart file.

To interact or reach out to Shima, you can find him on Twitter at @KerryShima_RCMP.

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