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.