Police Community Support Officers: Twitter best practice

Presentation by Gavin Barker

Twitter Best Practice by PCSO’s

This online presentation highlights the best examples of Twitter use by PCSO’s. It is draws on online research which looked at 18 different user profiles across 12 police forces

http://compasstraininguk.org/presentation/


About me

Background in the public and charity sector with roles including

⁻ community engagement with refugee and local resident communities

₋ Mediation and bridge building in community conflict situations

₋ Policy research ₋ Social media and web project management

Current role ₋ Online research on use of social media by

public and private organisations ₋ Social media consultancy for small businesses ₋ online diagnostics for individuals and

organisations in their use of twitter which includes key metrics and suggestions for improvement

Website: http://compasstraininguk.org/

Contact details

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: 0750 890 7171


http://compasstraininguk.org/

mailto:[email protected]


We look at three broad areas of twitter activity by PCSO’s

Who I am and what I do

Information about who you are, what you do, who you work for

Key messages, timely reminders, links to more detailed information

Raising awareness

Building relationships with the wider community

Re-assuring the public with live

updates, bulletins, as well as

crowdsourcing information

Tackling crime & anti-social behaviour

Crime prevention and education

Promoting safer neighbourhoods



Who you are and what you do Twitter profiles and tweets:

best examples



WHO YOU ARE & WHAT YOU DO: KEY FINDINGS

Best practice • Who you are and what you do begins

with your Twitter profile and the best profiles used pictures of people to convey personal relationship and local connection rather than a strictly corporate identity

• The use of humour and banter played an important role in building positive relationships with a wider public

• Twitter as a police recruitment tool also allowed a wider public to get a more in-depth understanding of police work and what it involves.

Areas of weakness • An inconsistent use of hashtags. Some

were irrelevant to the subject matter of tweets. Other hashtags were simply too broad a category to be useful to the viewer. Even #police is less useful than it appears because it groups conversations from all over the world – police authorities in North America, India, Dubai and Australia. #ukpolice might be a better option.

• Other hashtags such as #workingtogether and #committed (which brings in conversations from sports to civil partnerships) suffered the same diffuse spread of conversations with no common theme



A picture rather than a logo makes for a stronger personal profile

A picture of PCSO’s in the neighbourhood conveys a stronger sense of social connection and relationship

Profiles are the first thing a potential follower sees. Profiles that promote local

or social connection rather than brand, play to the strengths of social media.

Police brand forms part of the background rather

than the central focus



Showing the face behind the uniform

The header image captures social interaction – a policeman talking and smiling to a member of the public. It promotes positive sentiment and sets the ‘tone’ for the kind of relationship a PCSO seeks to build

Link to website uses a bit.ly url which measures the number of times people click on the link



Using a local landmark that everyone knows of

This particular picture is of the River Tamar and bridge, a well known landmark which marks the dividing line between Cornwall and the rest of England

Landmarks such as bridges, rivers, iconic buildings are part of the emotional landscape of local people

Background picture uses a local landmark that everyone identifies with



Landmarks convey a sense of place, of community

The profile header image also includes key headline information



Adopting a personal, conversational tone ….

….allows personality to show through and helps build a relationship with the wider community

Gardening…

A sons 7th Birthday….

The weather…

The tone is conversational



Humour and stories that give an inside view

Whether it is a chance encounter with colleagues old and new

Or the pain of a dislocated knee



Twitter as a recruiting tool also gives an inside view

Recruitment event for Special Constables includes use of Twitter for online Q&A. It achieves two things

• It gives an inside view of the role of special constables

• It encourages recruitment of those with social media skills



PROMOTING SAFER NEIGHBOURHOODS

Burnt out van, Hackney, riots 2011

Photo by Alastair


http://www.flickr.com/people/40476301@N03


KEY FINDINGS

Best practice • A strategic use of twitter to structure

information in 3 ways: ‘what I will do and where’, ‘what’s happening’, end-of-shift feedback

• Judicious use of hashtags particularly place names that form part of a PCSO’s patch, example #grindleford #seaford

• Good use of images to drive home messages

• Twitter for civil emergencies – a new service being rolled out in the UK

• Sharing local news to foster a sense of community connection

Areas for weakness

• Over liberal use of hashtags such as #wetakesecurity #alwayshelping that pulls in unrelated content from all over the world

• Use of twitter restricted to relentless sharing of crime updates and requests for public help can, over time, foster negative social sentiment – the feeling that people are living in a crime-prone area

• There was almost a complete absence of reference to on online conflict, cyber-bullying and other forms of anti social behaviour which may later play out off-line



Live updates re-assure the public of a police presence actively working on their behalf

• Tackling street drinkers

• moving on beggars

• reporting a lost dog

• Giving crime prevention advice to an elderly lady



Tweets that tell a story

“I’m a mum and we are never off duty”

some stories pack an emotional punch…

…and transform our perception of the police: not just a uniform but a mum



Twitter as a crowdsourcing tool

Police work has always relied on the assistance of the public, but it is the ease, speed and scale of public involvement afforded by tools such as Twitter that transforms police work. It also enables the police to tap into local knowledge and face-to-face social networks on a sustained and continuous basis.

Hashtags based on locality and neighbourhood are a vital but often under-used tool in twitter armoury. They act as a co-created community news stream



Using Twitter to drive face to face interaction

Hashtag place names are often used as a source of local news – and it enables the police to connect with people who don’t ‘follow’ you

Tweets advertising surgery in gift shop ‘share your views’

Advertising neigbhourhood watch meeting using hashtag to do so



Sharing local news

Sharing local news through re-tweets might seem on the periphery of a policemen’s job to fight crime but it performs an important function in two ways:

• It promotes the PCSO as a key social hub at the centre of news and information of value and interest to the local community

• It fosters a sense of community spirit and helps build trust and social capital between members of a community.

The last point is critical: high levels of trust and social capital reduces fear of crime and promotes a greater willingness to report crime when it happens



Promoting road safety

Twitter lends itself to short, sharp key messages

With an image that conveys a clear warning



Responding to anti-social behaviour

Not just sharing information but showing a visible result



Twitter combined with a neighbourhood alert system

Neighbourhood alert – with a clickable link to find more detailed information

Lincolnshire alert is a free two way community messaging system designed to put you in touch with Lincolnshire Police and Neighbourhood Watch



Twitter Alerts for civil emergencies

Twitter Alerts for disasters and civil emergencies is a new service being rolled out in the UK

As of 18 November 013, Twitter users will be able to register for the service which aims to “get critical information to the right people at the right time”.

Users who opt-in to Twitter Alerts, will receive tweets marked with a small orange bell for important alerts so as to stand out from the user’s timeline. They will also receive a text message directly to their phones



Twitter strategy to structure information updates

Map out the days activities: -what I will do -where I will be

Report back on the days events ‘have spoken to lots of residents’ ‘school parking patrol’

This example shows a good use of Twitter to:

Drive face to face interaction: ‘I will be in the High Street, Bugbrooke, come and talk to me’



No news is good news that also deserves a mention

No news is good news: no issues to report

Quite often the instinct is to find something to report or tweet, but sometimes the best messages are one of re-assurance. No crimes or reports of anti social behaviour can be vital to counter balance the fear of crime that haunts so many communities



CRIME PREVENTION AND COMMUNITY EDUCATION



Key findings

Best practice

• Headline information combined with strong images or links to more detailed information

• Using crime updates to re – inforce crime prevention messages

• The use of social events to promote key messages

Areas for improvement

• use of hashtags of overlong hashtags of limited effectiveness e.g. #nostreetdrinkingplease

• Limited use of platforms such as bit.ly to measure engagement e.g. number of clicks on tweets



Key timely message tweeted early on a Friday evening……

…combined with a strong image…

Maximises the impact of what you want to say

Cautionary messages for a Friday night



Another cautionary tweet with clear, practical advice in case of emergency

Timing is everything ! Sent early Friday evening

Messages well timed



Well timed tweets that are pithy and to the point

Combined with a powerful picture

And tweeted early Friday evening



using crime updates to promote crime prevention

Maybe could have also included a twitpic on home safety and a #southHeighton hashtag

Using live examples makes it real. It enhances the impact of key messages on crime prevention



Live Q&A using twitter hashtag and video

• questions were routed to their website which combined live Q&A with video

• Live Q&A moderated – questions checked before being read out on video

• A video broadcast is more immediate and does not confine answers to 140 characters

Note: limit to moderation using twitter given that anyone can say anything and append the hashtag – but very good approach nevertheless

#hashtag live Q&A but no Twitter share icon – just Facebook?

#bhburglary week with Brighton and Hove

!



Twitter live Q & A using a hashtag

• #bhburglaryweek – bh stands for Brighton and Hove

• Anyone tweeting a question using that hashtag will see their question appear in the twitter stream

• Hashtags are a great way of capturing useful crime prevention information



Using social events to promote key messages

The theme of road safety was central to the design of a Biker event and competition which was sponsored by local businesses interested in gaining new customers

Devon and Cornwall police designed and project managed a social event built around key community safety messages

Could the same approach be applied to social events/ road shows that combined: -Home improvements with home safety? -car care product shows with crime prevention? -IT roadshows with awareness around cyberbullying?



Using bit.ly to measure engagement

Live Q & A with Twitter hashtag includes the use of bit.ly to measure engagement

bit.ly allows you to measure the number of clicks on a link

It also tells you which platform was used to click on that link



End of presentation

Please given feedback on points not covered and how I can improve on this

Website: http://compasstraininguk.org/

Contact details

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: 0750 890 7171

I hope you found this

useful

This is a free resource so please download and share with colleagues.

For a consultation and assessment in your current use of twitter, along with key metrics for your Twitter account, please contact me


http://compasstraininguk.org/

mailto:[email protected]

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Police Community Support Officers: Twitter best practice