Police in Rome call on Twitter users to help spot illegally parked cars

The creativity of Italians in parking their cars and scooters – on traffic islands, the pavement or simply in the middle of the street – knows few limits. But now police in the capital Rome have enlisted the power of social media to help them get to grips with the endemic problem. Citizens who spot illegally parked cars can alert a dedicated police Twitter account, @PLRomaCapitale. The police then reply to say when they have taken action – typically in a matter of hours.

It can be hard to define exactly what Twitter is, because it serves so many purposes: sharing with friends, reporting the weather, shouting at celebrities, tracking civil unrest, interacting with big brands and much more besides. Thanks to a pilot scheme running in Rome, you can add reporting parking violations to the list as well. Italy’s crowded capital city has a particularly acute parking problem, and this new social mediainitiative is designed to help alleviate it. As The Car Connection reports, residents are being asked to photograph and tweet examples of bad parking to the police department’s Twitter account.Here’s one example.