Since November 2011, the Zurich City Police has been using Facebook and Twitter for an open dialogue with the community. Together with the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich, they planned a Twitter day called “#stapo24”. Over a 24-hour period the Zurich City Police tweeted each of the 250 incidents it dealt with. Every tweet was marked with the hashtag #stapo24. In doing so, anyone could follow the variety of police operations in real time. The Twitter day “#stapo24” attracted a lot of attention as well in Switzerland as abroad. Meanwhile, the #stapo24 day was evaluated. The key figures are summarized in an infographic.
Note: Michael Wirz is the Deputy Chief Information Officer at Zurich City Police.
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Category: SM Tools
Policing with Twitter
Social Media and Policing the Community
Note: This post was previously published at onthebeat101.
In this first feature on technology I’ll be exploring the role of social media in community policing. What role do services like Twitter and Facebook have to play in policing the community and in the lives of PCSOs? Are they time wasters or can they help officers be in touch with the areas and citizens they are responsible for?
There are more PCSOs, police officers and police services on Twitter than ever before – some with over 1,500 followers – so what are they tweeting about, who’s listening and what’s the point?
The police’s use of Twitter and social media has been severely criticised in some quarters – Fiona McEvoy, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The police should be catching criminals, not wasting time on social websites…‘These diversions are not necessary and ultimately cost the taxpayer money.’
PCSO with over 1,500 Twitter followers
After last summer’s riots and the subsequent reports into their causes, it became apparent that better relations between police and communities were essential. One of the key issues that people involved in the disorder cited again and again was a hostile relationship with the police, based around dislike, distrust and even hatred.
One of the suggestions of the HMIC report was:
“The development of a far more systematic and structured approach to community engagement by neighbourhood policing teams and other local policing assets”
Improving relations relies upon improving communication. Communities need and deserve to understand what the police do on a day-to-day basis, as well as what long term projects they’re involved in and what goals they are working towards. Churning out “success stories” in press releases just isn’t enough anymore.
Life on the beat is not like TV
PCSO Simon Latham,who has some 600 followers, believes Twitter can play an important role in raising PCSOs profile. He told onthebeat101: ”Some people do not know what a PCSO does; as PCSOs have had bad press in the past so it is an opportunity to showcase the work we carry out on a daily basis. It should also help people understand that life on the beat is not always like it is portrayed in some TV programmes.”
We interviewed PCSO Andy Ryan, a big presence in the PCSO twittersphere with over 1,500 followers. He told us: “neighbourhood policing is about listening and communicating with your community and identifying new ways to do that”.
A friendly face behind the police
The joy of twitter is that it’s all about interaction and engagement. A personal PCSO or police service Twitter account allows quick and cheap communication of what they’re doing.
Pierre Petrou, Head of Business Operations at MPS Camden, who manages the Camden MPS Twitter account, explains the benefits of Twitter to a police service…
PCSO Simon Latham says: “My use of Twitter is generally informative – updates into my day’s activities, crime prevention, appeals for information, and generally a way of interacting with users – some local to my patch, others not. Twitter offers a platform to show a friendly face behind the name and a contact within the police.”
Indeed, the Met told On the Beat 101 that “The MPS use of Twitter and other social media tool is to increase direct engagement with the public”.
Twitter increases engagement with the public
Reading updates on your phone has an immediacy that’s second only to talking face to face. Tweeting updates on police work is so fast it captures the moment and gives a feel of how policing works.
PCSO Andy Ryan says Twitter “lets me inform the local community about what the team are doing to solve local issues in the community that have been raised as a concern”.
PCSO Simon Latham agrees: “There is a huge twitter audience who may not have contact with the police usually, and Twitter is a quick, easy and modern way of communicating with them and the outside world especially people who aren’t from the police. It is also useful for information, as after building a rapport with users, they are willing to provide information – for example on crime, abandoned vehicles, issues affecting their neighbourhood.”
And if communities can understand how policing functions and what it’s about, perhaps trust can be restored.
Twitter and Facebook accounts are free
However, even if it’s free to set up a Twitter or Facebook account, developing a strategy for social media engagement does take time and energy – but it’s worth having one. And of course different forces will have different approaches.
Pierre Petrou, who is responsible for sending out the tweets from the MPS Camden Twitter account, describes how often he tweets and why…
On the Beat has learnt that the MPS ran several pilot Twitter schemes in London boroughs first. After this period, boroughs that wanted an account could apply to the Met for one. The Met told us that they now “aim to have all 32 boroughs up and running with Twitter accounts in the near future”. Pierre Petrou told onthebeat101 that: “The management boards at the Met have decided that social media is the way forward.”
Onthebeat101’s Twitter pageBoth individual PCSOs and police officers tweeting personally and police services need to think carefully about when and what to tweet. All sorts of people follow PCSO and police service Twitter accounts: members of the local community, local businesses, friends, journalists as well as other officers and services.
PCSO Simon Latham told us about how he uses Twitter: “Tweeting does not take long. Generally, I access Twitter for around 5-10 mins a day. It only takes 20 seconds to type out a tweet so does not distract me from my daily patrolling duties.
Pierre Petrou agrees that officers needn’t spend too long on Twitter!
Read More:
You can find out more in our full interview with PCSO Andy Ryan – one of the most popular PCSOs on Twitter, and by reading our Top Tips for PCSOs on Twitter. The Met told onthebeat101 that they are launching a new Twitter page on their website soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that! You can also listen to our full interview with Pierre Petrou of Camden MPS.
And if you’re still unsure about starting tweeting or what to tweet about, take a look at our Top PCSOs on Twitter. Why not follow us: @onthebeat101
- March, 21
- 2581
- Case Studies, SM Tools, SM Use, Twitter
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Social Media Quick Tip: Remove Unwanted Applications on Facebook
If you’ve you clicked through a link on Facebook and installed something you wish you hadn’t, it’s important to delete the application as soon as possible. And even if you haven’t, it’s good practice to check your Facebook account every now and then — once a month or so — to make sure you haven’t inadvertently installed harmful apps.
Here how to do it: In the upper right pull-down menu next to Home, select Account Settings. Next, choose Apps. You will see a list of all the applications you’ve installed.
To the right of each you can:
- Edit settings for each application
- Click the X to the right of Edit and remove them altogether.
If you’re unsure of an application’s worth, I recommend option #2.
This Social Media Quick Tip was previously published on LawOfficer.com.
ET Phone Home: Smartphones and crime prevention
Over the years, burglars have focused on Video Recorders, DVD players and, now, Flatscreen TVs. Car thieves have moved from car radios via CD players on to SatNavs, although even those are no longer of sufficient value to interest most opportunists.
In the same way, the advent of mobile phones has been responsible for a sharp increase in the number of muggings, mainly with young people as both perpetrators and victims. This particular crimewave has been revitalised over the last couple of years by the launch of expensive smartphones such as the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy etc. These, along with Tablet computers, retain very high re-sale value and are therefore very robber-friendly.
What got me thinking about this was a helpful conversation I had on the tube earlier this week with a British Transport Police Officer who was kind enough to give me a heads up about using my netbook in such a public place. He told me there had been quite a lot of laptops and iPads snatched on the underground network over the last few weeks. When you’re typing away with your eyes focused on the screen, your peripheral vision and general situational awareness is very low and you make an ideal victim. It’s pretty straightforward for a bunch of ne’er-do-wells to snatch your prized possession out of your hands just before the doors close.
I’ve posted before on this blog on how technology and the advent of social media have been swiftly adopted and adapted both by police services and the criminals they seek to apprehend.
The Fingerprint Branch at New Scotland Yard was created in July 1901 using the Henry System of Fingerprint Classification and it wasn’t long before burglars started wearing gloves. More recently, last August’s rioters outflanked police by their use of the Blackberry Messaging Service whilst police routinely use Facebook to investigate criminal connections and track down those wanted for questioning.
Just as police and criminals adapt, so do technology manufacturers. My British Transport friend told me that he and his colleagues had recently come to the aid of a furious and distraught passenger who had had his iPhone snatched a few stops further down the line. Using the officer’s own iPhone they logged into the victim’s iTunes account and located his phone via the “Find my iPhone” app which he had installed for free.
Sure enough, when they visited the address an hour later, they were able to both recover the phone and make an arrest.
“Find my iPhone” also allows users to remotely lock the phone or wipe it’s data.
I’m hoping that the iPhone5 will take technological crime prevention to the next level.
I’m expecting it to scan any new user’s retina to confirm it has been stolen, and then report the crime itself (by e-mail, text or Twitter), complete with a photo of the thief and current GPS details.
- March, 1
- 3123
- iPhone, Mobile Apps, SM Use
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Finnish COP named National Police Officer of the Year for Investigations in Social Media
Forss (Fobba is his nickname) was investigating crimes involving youths when he realized that many began on an online social network called IRC-Galleria, a very popular social network in Finland, used by 60% of 13 – 17 year olds. In September of 2008 he opened a profile on the site and began his “online patrol”. His page was clearly marked as that of a police officer.
During the first nine months, the profile had around 3,000-5,000 visitors a week. At the busiest week there were over 35,000 visitors. Additionally, 27,901 comments or questions from 8,073 different users appeared at the profile during these nine months. At the profile diary “data bank”, there were 3,039 questions and comments from 1,354 different users within the same time frame. Only registered users were counted. Almost all questions were answered, but sometimes it has been too busy to respond to every inquiry. The pictures and diary can be seen also without page registration. The official police department website has a web page as support for the IRC-Galleria police profile. This page received 46,331 hits in eight and half months.
Like other social media police pioneers, Forss experienced resistance at first and found that he had to prove the worth of his work before supervisors understood its value. “Of course some of my colleagues were doubting that this is really a job that police should do. In the first fifteen months I received 38,000 messages and started several investigations trough IRC-Galleria so nobody can say that it didn’t work. After a couple of months my boss let me focus 100% to my work in social media.” Shortly thereafter, because of a school shooting which had been leaked online, the Ministry of the Interior decided to fund more officers to monitor the Internet and Forss’ group has since grown to three, with still others doing undercover work online. His team works full-time in social media and his colleagues are no longer doubting the value of what his team does. But, like all who work online, he has to stay nimble. His work has turned more and more to Facebook as the popularity of IRC-Galleria is shrinking.
While most Internet sex crimes go unreported, Forss said more are coming to the attention of police because of online tools and adds “It has become clear that visible and approachable police profiles lower the level to contact the police in very unpleasant issues”. Of several success stories, he points to one which he feels would never have been reported if it weren’t for his online work. It involved the rape of a teenage runaway in Helsinki that occurred in 2006 but wasn’t reported until two years later. She contacted Forss through the IRC-Galleria. His investigation lead to the discovery of 17 photos of her on the suspect’s computer. The accused and convicted man was a 51 year old fellow police officer.
Forss doesn’t doubt he’s having an impact with his social media investigations. He stated, “I know I have helped a lot of people in the past four years and that’s why I can say that I have had a bigger impact in my work in social media in four years than in those nine years that I worked as a uniformed police officer. So I wouldn’t underestimate the power of policing in social media!” In fact, he said with cyberbullying issues, it’s sometimes enough to give the bullier, youth or adult, a virtual warning, “usually that stops the bullying because normal people want to avoid police investigation”, he added.
Sergeant Forss has some advice for agencies that want to start a social media program. His advice is that the best officer for the job isn’t necessarily the most technically-savvy. “Everybody can learn the IT-skills but you don’t learn the social and policing skills from books.”
Forss and his team are spreading their expertise well beyond their own department. Their work has inspired other agencies, even outside of Finland, to begin their own social media programs. He’s also developing a wiki-based social media handbook to include policy and procedural guidelines and he’s hopeful that one day soon more police officers will use social media in the course of their investigations rather than it being just a specialty of a few officers.
- February, 21
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- IRC-Galleria, SM Tools, SM Use
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