Craig Moore - @multizonecraig - Neighbourhood policing and social media - policing twitter tips
Police advisor to Multizone Ltd. 20 years involvement in IT projects & 30 years of operational Policing experience with New Scotland Yard's Metropolitan Police including Neighbourhood Policing and Public Order.
Owner of an IT company. Provides the income for 12 families in Kenya by helping them sell their craft products to Americans using the Internet. Successfully using Social Media to promote all his commercial websites.
Search Engine Optimisation and Google AdSense Publisher enthusiast. Currently learning HTML5 & CSS3 in order to update all his websites. Provided computer graphics, documentary props & advice to the ITV Police Drama television series 'The Bill' 2001 - 2010.
Advice to Neighbourhood Police officers on how to use Twitter
Why should Neighbourhood Police Officers use Twitter?
Are you a Neighbourhood Police Officer? How many people turned up at your last local meeting or surgery? Ten or fifteen if you are lucky. The Government expects you to engage with the community. It is an essential part of your job but at present you are reaching less than 1% of your local population.
Some officers will say that they speak to a lot of their local public when on patrol, but what about the people that go to work outside your patrol area 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and when they come home, close the door, have a meal and watch TV? How do your reach the rest of the people you serve.
When I was a Sergeant in Surbiton South West London for two weeks I flooded an area with police officers to deal with a burglary problem. Our property store officer lived down one of the streets in that area. He overheard us talking about what we were doing. His comment was 'I never see police down my road'. I was shocked. I personally had patrolled that street on foot four times that day. Officers had regularly walked down the road over the past two weeks yet his perception was that his street was never policed. By using twitter you can show many more of your local residents how active Police are in their area and upturn this negative perception.
If you are using Twitter as an official Neighbourhood Police account then you have to make it interesting. Your local public want to know what their police officers are doing. Tell them. It is that simple. Use your twitter account as a sort of diary. You are limited to 140 characters so keep entries brief.
"Arrested two youths for Graffiti behind Tescos Supermarket in Newtown High Street. "
"I had words with a group of lads playing football against the wall of the Newton care home. Told them where to play. #Police"
"Dealt with a traffic collision in Newton Gardens. Drunk driver arrested. He knocked down a lamp post. #Police"
"Executed a drugs warrant in Newtown Estate. Three bricks of cannabis found. Two arrests made. #Police"
"Issued six speeding tickets near Newtown Primary School this morning. 4 were local people. Slow down near the School. #Police"
"Newton Police station custody full this morning, 4 for shoplifting, 1 for fraud & 8 for assault. It was a busy Friday night #Police"
People use 'Twitter search' to find out what is going on locally. It is a bit like using Google. You want people to find your messages, your tweets. Try and put a location in each message. In the examples above I have used the location name Newtown. Any local person searching twitter using the word 'Newtown' will find your messages even though they may not be looking for them. When they realise that the Police are using twitter the normal reaction is, 'that's cool the police are on twitter' and then press the follow button to start receiving your daily messages.
If there is room at the end of your message add the word #Police with the hash symbol at the beginning of the word. People who use twitter deploy the hash tag in front of words to help find information on certain topics easier when using Twitter Search.
Use twitter to make your job easier. Tell people about local crime, why it occurred and how they can prevent themselves becoming the next victim. The less crime you report and have to investigate more time you will have to do proactive work. Send out messages on twitter like these examples
"Reported a Burglary in Newtown Ave. They got in through open front windows. Don't be the next victim. Close your windows. #police"
"Reported a theft from a parked car at Newtown Railway Station. Handbag stolen. Don't leave valuables in view in a car. #police"
"Another Sat Nav has just been stolen from a car in Newtown central car park. The thief saw the holder on the window. #police"
Your Police Force website has some good information on it. When linking to crime prevention advice pages copy the internet address of that page into your twitter message. Put the link in the middle of your tweet not end. If you put the link at the end of a tweet it will be cut in half or deleted when it gets retweeted (RT) forwarded to other peoples followers.
"Reported a Burglary in Newtown Ave http://dld.bz/ahVPE They got in through open front windows. Don't be the next victim. Close your windows."
"Reported a theft from a parked car at Newtown Railway Station. Handbag stolen. http://dld.bz/ahVPP Don't leave valuables in view in a car"
"Another Sat Nav has just been stolen from a car in Newtown central car park. http://dld.bz/ahVPP The thief saw the holder on the window. #police"
Many officers are not sure what they can and cannot say in a Twitter message. Obviously personal data must not be used. You can say "I reported a Burglary in Newtown Ave. Credit cards were stolen" but not "I reported a Burglary at 341 Newtown Ave. Mrs Karen Smith had her credit cards stolen". If you are reporting on arrests only give information on completed cases and not those where there is outstanding lines of investigation. If someone is charged with an offence any member of the public can find this information at the court hearing so this information is in the public domain and can be used on Twitter.
When should you send out messages on twitter? Because people mainly use their mobile phones to read their Twitter messages this means that they normally can only see the most recent ones sent over the past two hours. You cannot normally see all of that days messages. That means tweet messages have a limited life span. Many companies ban the use of mobile phones in the work place. Most people read twitter going to work, on their lunch break and going home. Therefore to get maximum exposure to your messages try to send them out at 7.30am 12noon and 5pm.
This does not mean that you physically have to start typing at those times. Twitter messages can be scheduled to go out at whatever time or day you want. I personally use www.socialoomph.com to schedule all my tweets but there are other free software options like www,hootsuite.com www.tweetdeck.com and www.cootweet.com.
I hope you have found these beginners tips on how to use twitter useful
Craig Moore
www.multizone.co.uk
Tips on how to use Twitter Correctly to help Police a Major Event
Here is some advice on how to use Twitter properly to help police a major event (not a demonstration). I used twitter to send out public information messages to help police the Wimbledon Tennis 2011 Championships. This involved messages being sent every 10 minutes from 7am until the evening for 17 days. Most of the work was done before the event started. My messages were seen by over 15,000 people. That is the true power of using Twitter at events. There is no other way at present that the police can get their messages across to so many people for so little cost.
Pre Event Planning and tasks
You will need to compile a list of event topics that should be covered. The following list was used for Wimbledon Tennis but many of the items will be applicable to most events that police have to cover. Always do a site visit prior to the event so you can describe were all the locations are situated.
Transport advice
Public Transport – Bus / Coach
Public Transport – Train
Public Transport – Underground
Public Transport – Special event shuttles
Public Transport – Park & Ride scheme
Car Parking – for cars
Car Parking – for coach & mini bus
Drop off points for coach & mini bus
Parking restrictions & Tow away zones
Traffic Directions – what signs to follow
Traffic updates before the event
Traffic updates during the event
Traffic updates after the event
Give the Event/Local radio station details for travel updates
Low bridge information and width restrictions
Crime prevention advice
Theft from Motor Vehicles
Theft of & from bags
Theft of mobile phones
Distraction thefts
Pickpocket teams
People carrying weapons
Public Disorder - What to do if you see aggressive people
Public Disorder - Advice on not to drink too much
How to report a crime
Location of Event temporary Police Station
Police non-emergency phone number
Counter Terrorism Advice
Look out for Bags
Look out for Suspects
Tickets information & touts
Ticket Advice – Where to queue
Ticket Advice – Dangers of fakes & buying from Touts
Ticket Advice – It's illegal to sell tickets
Crime - Report Ticket Tout locations to police
Weather forecast
Wet Weather advice – Clothing & umbrellas
Hot Weather advice – hats, long sleeved tops & drink water
Event Rules
Photography – Flash
Photography – Tripods
Picnics – Glass / Tin containers
Picnics – Metal cutlery
Switch off Mobile Phone & Pagers
Dress Code
Money & Banks
Advice on where to get cash
Advice on credit cards usage
Illness
Location of First Aid Posts
Missing Children
Location of Missing Child porta-cabin post
How to report a missing child
What to do if you find a child wandering on its own
Lost Property
What to do if you find lost property
What to do if you lose your property
Where to go to see if your property has been handed in
Disability Provision
Information on suitably equipped toilets
Information on access provision at the event
Information on parking for the disabled
Toilets
Information on location of toilets at the event
Information on location of toilets prior to event opening
Camping & RV campervan facilities
Give information on the event campsite, toilets, showers, food, fires
Give crime prevention advice to those camping.
Police Website
Ideally you should have information about different aspects of the event on a number of pages on a website that you can link to in your tweets. Use the above list as a guide. More individual topic focused pages are better than one long page.
Separate Event twitter account
Do not use your normal police twitter account. Your regular 'followers' who are not going to the event will get very annoyed that their twitter newsfeed is being bombarded by tweets from you about an event they have no interest in. It has taken time for you to obtain interested 'followers' from your local community. You do not want to upset them. They will start to 'Unfollow' you. This is defiantly something you do not want to happen.
You will need a new e-mail address to set up the event twitter account. This is where planning ahead of the event comes in. In some police services it takes time for the IT department to issue a new e-mail address. Find out how long it takes. Design a simple uncluttered icon that is easily recognisable as police like a police beat helmet on a white background, police crest, Black & white checker with the word POLICE.
Tell the local newspapers, radio station and the event organisers the name of the new event twitter account i.e. @PoliceEvent. That way you should be able to get advanced publicity. Also promote it two weeks before the event on all your normal police twitter accounts, Facebook pages & website.
Construction of the tweets
A Twitter message is called a 'tweet' and is limited to 140 characters but you can add links to webpages where people can find more detailed information. Put the link to the webpage in the middle of the message. If it is at the end and people retweet the message (copy it and send it to their own friends) there is a danger of it being cut in half or deleted due to lack of space. This would defeat the object of sending out the message. Most Twitter software programs now allow you to shorten long web page addresses to help it fit in the restrictions of a 140 character long message.
People using Twitter at an event, to find out information, will use Twitter's search box exactly as they would use Google. You must work out what words they will search for and try to put them in every tweet you send out. At Wimbledon Championship that was easy; 'Wimbledon' and 'Tennis'. This is the best way of getting your messages found by the public.
Trying to get 'followers' does not really apply for a Police Twitter Event account. You must aim to make it easy for people to find you. If there is room left on your tweet add the word 'police'. Twitter users put hash tags in front of words to help search for subjects i.e. #wimbledon #tennis #police. These words should be put at the end of a message. It does not matter if they get cut in half or deleted when the message is retweeted (RT) as at that stage the message is being sent directly to people rather than searched for.
The following examples show how these points have been used to construct public information tweets
"You are not allowed to take metal knives into Wimbledon Tennis only plastic picnic cutlery http://dld.bz/adEWn #wimbledon #tennis"
"Need toilets whilst waiting to get into Wimbledon Tennis? http://dld.bz/ad7NG Go to Car park Gate 10 #wimbledon #tennis #police"
"If you see an unattended bag or suspicious item with wires at Wimbledon Tennis phone the police. http://dld.bz/ad7NG #wimbledon #tennis #police"
Write all your messages before the event.
You do not want to be continually typing messages on a phone whilst you are policing an event on the ground. For starters it doesn't look good. The public will think you are sending personal messages instead of doing your job. Luckily there are a number of free software programs that allow you to schedule messages to go out at a specific date and time weeks in advance. I use www.socialoomph.com but you could also use www.hootsuite.com www.tweetdeck.com or www.cotweet.com. I send six an hour. One every ten minutes.
A week before the event construct messages covering all the policing public information topics we have already discussed. If you are policing an event over a number of days you may need four messages on each topic. There is a problem. To stop spam junk mail messages Twitter does not allow the same message to be sent again and again. To overcome this you have to re-word messages about the same subject. Here are two examples
"Take only plastic cutlery to Wimbledon Tennis in your picnic hamper. http://dld.bz/ad7NG All bags are searched #wimbledon #tennis #Police"
"You are not allowed to take metal knives into Wimbledon Tennis http://dld.bz/adEWn only plastic cutlery #wimbledon #tennis #Police"
Remember to send out messages about traffic arrangements, tickets and camping a few days before the event.
What to do at the event
Allow all Bronze, Silver, Gold and Event control room staff to have access to the Event twitter account if possible. If necessary as incidents unfold they can send out additional messages if required.
An officer should be assigned the task to regularly check during the event to see if a member of the public has sent a 'Message' to the police using Twitter. They must be in a position to respond. Twitter is not just a broadcast medium. Thousands of people use twitter at big events and expect to get a reply. This is where many Police Services fail. During Wimbledon Tennis the public used twitter to complain about illegal Ticket Touts in certain streets in response to advice messages. The Tout Squad were directed to that location to deal with them. That is good useful engagement.
Use Photos
On your pre-event site check take photos of places like the Missing Child Post, Temporary Police Station, First Aid Post etc… Twitter allows you to upload them and link to them in your messages for the public to view. If you are adventurous you can also do the same with video.
Post Event Debrief
Use Twitter to ask the public for feed back. What went well? What can be changed for next year. Go over the list of the tweets you sent out and see if you need to add more for future use and delete others. Keep the document with the list of messages safe.
Police using twitter at events like Wimbledon Tennis
For the next two weeks I will be tweeting Police public information messages for Wimbledon Tennis. This exercise is being done to show ACPO, Silver & Gold Commanders how twitter can be used to assist in policing large pre-planned events. Surrey Police earlier this year started to use twitter for the PGA Wentworth Golf tournament and the Epsom Derby.
Most of the messages should be scheduled before the event to go out automatically at different times of the day. This leaves the officers free to police the event without having to worry about typing tweets on the street.
In my next blog post I will explain the planning that is required, topics to be covered and issues to be considered. I hope you can use this exercise to help you start using twitter at your local large events. You can follow my Wimbledon Tennis tweets on @multizonecraig or at the bottom of our www.multizone.co.uk homepage where you can see my twitter feed.
More Articles...
- Invite a guest to use your Police Twitter Account!
- The power of the tweet – Policing Twitter Tips
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- Officer am I in danger? – Policing Twitter Tips
- Police tweets cannot be found – Twitter Policing Tip
- Use Twitter for live Q&A sessions with the public - Policing Twitter Tip
- How to Engage with your Community – Policing Twitter tips
- How to reduce Police Helicopter Noise Complaints – Policing Twitter Tips
- Police using Twitter can save lives
- Hoax Calls – Policing Twitter tips
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