Police force set to tweet on the beat

Sunday 26 August 2012

Tayside Police is to become the first force in Scotland to launch its own dedicated crime-fighting smartphone app.

Tayside Police says the new technology will not replace manned front desks in police stations, and that the move is a response to citizens increasingly opting to interact with the force via Facebook and Twitter

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EXCLUSIVE by Iain S Bruce

The project, set to begin next month, will see officers constantly updating Facebook and Twitter pages with a real-time an account of their beat, as well as communicating directly with the public about crime and safety.

Police chiefs say the move online will open up new channels of communication and bolster public confidence."Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are fast becoming the communications method of choice for an entire generation of Scots, making it essential for police forces to keep pace with developing technology and embrace these tools," said Sarah Craig, head of digital media and communications at Tayside Police. "If citizens want to speak to public services via the internet, it is beholden upon us to listen to them." "This is not a replacement for manned front desks, 999 calls or any of the existing ways the public can interact with us. "It is simply a new way of keeping in touch and encouraging conversations with people who might never have considered contacting the police before."Earlier this month, Strathclyde Police provoked alarm by revealing that due to an increase in the use of social media communications services like Twitter it was considering closing the front desks of many stations outside peak hours. However, the Tayside force stressed it had no plans to consider such a move.A total of 80 community constables have already been trained to use the technology, which enables them to post immediate updates of their work. Smartphones are to be issued to other beat officers in September, and a version of the app will be made available to the public in mid October.In addition to receiving direct communications and appeals for information to their handsets, the public will be able to view updates of police activity in their local area. Accounts of incidents being investigated will be made available in real time, while an interactive map will show the current locations of community constables not involved in sensitive operations.The move has provoked criticism from some quarters, with the Taxpayers' Alliance criticising the Tayside force for spending money on a social media channel it claims only a fraction of the UK public actually use. The pressure group believes officers' priorities should be combating crime and protecting the public, not tweeting what is happening as they walk the beat.However, while the system's developers accept that communications distributed solely through services like Twitter would exclude many citizens, they argue that with an estimated 50% of the population already using smartphone apps, the Tayside system will be capable of reaching a far wider section of the community.Angus Fox, director of Multizone, the company that developed the app for Tayside, said: "No understanding of Twitter, Facebook or any other social media will be required to access the service. Tayside Police realised from the beginning that with only 16% of citizens actually using Twitter, they needed to embrace a more inclusive approach by targeting the far larger community of mobile phone users."Tayside Police expects the number of incidents reported via the app to increase as social media use proliferates. It has built a community in excess of 26,000 followers on its Twitter and Facebook pages and points to a number of successes using digital methods.Earlier this year the force recovered a lost CS gas canister following a Facebook appeal and managed to reunite an autistic child with a lost cuddly toy following an online campaign. In another case, Twitter contact from local teenagers complaining they had nowhere to safely play has led to a combined police and community effort to raise funds for a new skate park.Craig said: "Discussions about policing issues will happen on social media irrespective of whether forces choose to participate. We have taken the view that it is better to be part of the conversation than be left out of the loop."

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Police force set to tweet on the beat

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