Social Media Mobile Applications for Police Forces

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"Our free application shows information about local neighbourhood policing activities mapped in relation to crimes with richer mobile online access to local officers, and an ability to have a say in what is important locally."...
  • Increase online community engagement
  • Improve transparency about policing activity
  • Access information about local officers
  • Set crimes in context with outcomes
  • A way for the busy public to tell police their views
  • Open, integrated with Social Networks on phones

For Police Officers

  • Police officers give quick geographically coded real time updates on what they are doing, without wasting time and increasing public confidence in policing through openness.
  • These updates are useful to the officers in providing examples of local engagement for performance reviews
  • Officers can't wrongly tweet, overcoming an inhibitor to the adoption of raw social media tools
  • Responses are collected in the same place as tasking activity is carried out, joining the dots between communications, tasking and outcomes.
  • The public like engaging with the police especially uniformed officers that work their local streets.

For the public

  • People using social networks can see these 'nearby' updates - they dont need a special app just a web browser or a suitable mobile phone
  • If they do choose to download the free app to their mobile phone they get the ability to:
    • see who their local officers are and easily contact them,
    • influence neighbourhood priorities by rating them
    • see upcoming neighbourhood policing events
    • see the policing interventions nearby graphically presented on a map
    • see nearby crime information in context with interventions

For the force

  • The application can be branded or sponsored for the police force customer, and additional modules are available.
  • The cost of this kind of engagement and communication is much less than traditional communications
  • Most police forces have a wealth of content on their website. The app, and tasking responses can direct public to the right location using links
  • Senior officers can define the allowable updates, and which officers are able to engage with social media Maintains professionalism, tone of voice, and provides governance.

 

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