Facebook: a Useful Tool for Police?

Police Service of Northern Ireland
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Most police forces in the UK, now have Facebook pages but, is Facebook a useful and effective tool for police use?

Does it increase community confidence, generate support for the police and provide a mechanism for engagement that meets peoples’ needs? Those were some of the key questions that the North Down area of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) recently set out to find answers to. (Read more)

In my opinion many UK police forces have jumped on the social networking bandwagon without really understanding why they are doing it or indeed, what the benefit will be to the organisation or the ‘customer’. The efficient and cost-effective use of technology from an organisational point of view must be done for business reasons with clearly defined aims, and not just because its fashionable, as is often the case!

3 thoughts on “Facebook: a Useful Tool for Police?

  1. A good example from NYP is below…..copied today…..

    Unfortunately, the fad seems to have passed on…..or perhaps the person who set up the Twitter account has got the promotion they wanted……

    Hambleton North SNT
    MikeOscar999
    Runners while out and about please wear reflective clothing or lights on those dark roads. Two near misses tonight in Great Ayton
    60 days ago · reply
    Persons illegally selling the Big Issue. Official sellers wear a red tabard with the big issue logo. Police & Charity addressing problems
    68 days ago · reply
    All the Staff at Hambleton North SNT, would like to wish you and your loved ones a peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
    73 days ago · reply

    Mind you – I got connected to this because I put in my postcode of DL8 ETC. Last month that pointed me to Easingwold, as I was then living in “Hambleton South”. Whatever happened to Bedale Police Station?? I’m sure I saw it on Saturday!

    Like

    1. Peter you highlight one of my points exactly in that; if police want to use social networking as a useful tool, the service really needs to put the effort into doing it correctly!

      Like

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