What follows is a press release from MyPolice


On January 17th Tayside Police will break new ground as the first force in the UK to take public engagement into the 21st Century in partnership with social engagement firm MyPolice.

MyPolice is a website where the police and the public engage in local conversations.

Tayside are to participate in a three-month trial of the innovative service, which allows people to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of local policing and discuss local issues with officers. During the pilot, eight officers of various ranks will communicate online with members of the public living in the South Perthshire area of Tayside.

The service is expected to make it easier for the public to understand the way their communities are policed, while improving the ability of the Tayside force to communicate new developments, explain its aims and achievements and even challenges. The initiative has been backed by the Scottish Government:

“The Scottish Government recognises that it is vital that communities are empowered to participate in the planning of local strategies, and feel a sense of ownership of what happens within those communities. A variety of initiatives are underway to encourage this – for example the Community Wellbeing Champions Initiative, sponsored by both the Scottish Government and COSLA, provides a real opportunity for communities to make decisions on how resources locally are used to combat antisocial behaviour. MyPolice will provide a further opportunity for meaningful conversation and we await the results of the pilot with interest”

Following the pilot MyPolice intends to roll the service out UK-wide.

MyPolice allows people to send feedback and give their opinion about about their experiences, both positive and negative. MyPolice aim to ensure this feedback is responded to by the relevant police department / community officer. Secondly, it is an impartial, independent space where people can find out who their local police are, and what they do. Finally, MyPolice collects data based on real customer experience and feeds it back to the police, which creates a deeper understanding of what the public wants, bringing the police and public closer together.

In providing analysis and data for the police to act on, MyPolice challenges and helps make policy decisions, ensuring that service users have an active part in identifying opportunities for service improvement. It’s a place where people can see how their thoughts translate directly into action. Pre-testing attracted stories ranging from local experiences about parking to the reporting sexual assault. All content can be pushed through existing social media channels.

MyPolice is a limited company based in Glasgow, funded by various social entrepreneurial funds. The independent company was founded by two Scottish designers; Sarah Drummond and Lauren Currie a year ago. The idea came from Sarah winning Social Innovation Camp – an event that brings together ideas, people and digital tools to build web-based solutions to social problems

After the pilot phase, MyPolice intends to be a website that provides one national site for discussion of police services –with postcodes allowing comments to be directed to the appropriate force. Police forces will pay a small annual fee to receive the service.

The Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary announced in March that it was to launch a similar website and scrapped the idea a few weeks later.

Are the police listening? Yes

Log on to http://www.tayside.mypolice.org

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If you would like more information about the pilot, or to schedule an interview with Lauren Currie, please call Kirsty Sinclair at 0141 566 1492 or email Kirsty at pr@mypolice.org

If you would like more information from Tayside Police about the pilot, or to schedule an interview with Phil Johnston, please call Phil at 01382 59674 or email Phil at philip.johnston@tayside.pnn.police.uk