Twitter is a great way to meet people and share ideas about a whole range of things. The social network has proved to help in spreading views and information as well as providing a way to help people with problems no matter where they may be in the world. And there are now so many police officers and staff using Twitter there must be more that can be done to maximise the opportunity that it presents?
I think there is – part of the answer is in the creation of a Twitter chat. Twitter chats now take place across the network on a whole host of issues. It works very much like a web chat – with people getting together at a specified time to discuss the issues that matter. Many examples of successful Twitter chats are already evident. There is a Friday local government communication and social media chat that takes place and on Monday’s there is #Commschat that covers a whole range of public relations and communication issues.
So, how does this matter to those working in police forces?
The answer is #polchat. That is the creation of a weekly police communication related chat to take place on Thursday’s between 1pm and 2pm.
The plan is to pick a theme for the chat that will be highlighted a few days before through Twitter so people can get their thinking caps on and be ready to make their views known. Each week would cover elements of communication and engagement activity that are relevant to policing, so that hopefully it can be a way for people to share good ideas, talk about what works and also let people know things that haven’t worked.
On Thursday there will be a chat between 1pm and 2pm that will be managed by one of the Greater Manchester Police communication team. People will be able to contribute thoughts and ideas by tweeting using the hashtag #polchat. Anyone that doesn’t want to take part can just read through the tweets by checking the hashtag.
To help anyone who misses the chat we will provide a transcript of the tweets through a Twitter link.
The question is do the police officers and staff that are on Twitter want to use this as a way to develop making use of the new technology? All views on this will be welcomed and if initial responses are positive we will look to get things underway on Thursday 17th March.
Are you ready to connect, discuss and network?
Amandacomms's Blog 
Great idea – count me in
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Suggested points for discussion:
• £635m to be reinvested in frontline policing
• Police are “comparatively well paid”, earning 60% more than the average local earnings in regions such as Wales and the north-east.
• Police are “comparatively well paid”, earning 10%-15% more than some other emergency workers.
• Skilled police officers would get a pay rise of between £1,500 to £2,000
• £1,200 should be introduced for most detectives, firearms, public order and neighbourhood policing teams, for expertise and professional accreditation allowance.
• 10% extra on their basic hourly pay for working between 8pm – 6am.
• Police forces should be able to offer voluntary redundancy payments, but there is no need to introduce a power to bring in compulsory redundancy for officers.
Let me know how matters develop.
@polltickle
Twitter.com
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Great idea. I’m all for improving engagement between those of us who use Twitter. Must be mindful throughout that it is a public forum. Although this would be aimed at police and police staff, I guess anyone can join in?
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It is something that I see the public could join if they wish. Key is to make people aware that it is public discussion and to keep a theme to discuss. Police staff will lead and others may get involved but I don’t want to be risk averse. There will be inevitable issues that arise but there is still no reason why we can’t be open about things. For example if we are discussing how police use social media, or how to encourage people to go to public meetings all views will be useful. Essentially it is about encouraging a discussion with the professionals taking a lead. There is no logical reason why it shouldn’t work for policing discussions around communication and engagement, as it works in other spheres.
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I am all for the idea, but would question chatting in public for targeted issues with Policing (or any other sector). My guess, this may lead to the odd DM between users. Then again, if a private forum were to be set up, each member would have to be vetted and time consuming to be set up while being impossible to be accurate…which leads back to public chat again. Bottom line, if there were something important to add, but mindful it’s public – would you tweet it? Fascinated to see how it pans out.
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I’d be up for that – I took part in the local gov one for the first time last week and loved it! I work for a police force so (theoretically) shouldn’t have been a part of local gov chat – but I felt I offered something useful, and I certainly learnt stuff.
Yeah there was a bit of DMing, but there is no harm in that.
Lets experiment and see what happens!
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Sounds like a great idea to me
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This sounds like a great way to collaborate. Count me in.
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Bill Bongle says: #polchat sounds like a great way to collaborate. Count me in.
But, does spending the publics funds in this way directly deal with crime?
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