Open Eye:Chat

Police use of Web 2.0

I had an interesting meeting with Rick Muir at the Institute for Public Policy Research this week.

Rick is a Senior Research Fellow on the Democracy and Power Team at the ippr. They are currently doing a piece of work for the NPIA called policing 2.0  (which is essentially exploring the impact and uses of web 2.0 technologies in the police service).

Rick is trying to establish what has been, and is being, done so far (for example: use of online tools for police-to-citizen, citizen-to-citizen and officer-to-officer collaboration in crime reduction).

I have highlighted a number of things being done in places like Cumbria, North Northants BCU, Nottingham City BCU, Hull, GMP and West Midlands and have discussed some of the people and units using services such as Twitter, but, if you're doing good things and striding boldly into the use of 2.0 technologies, then I would encourage you to contribute to the report and contact Rick directly (please let me know too ! twitter.com/openeyecomms).

Rick can be reached through the ippr switchboard at 020 7470 6100 or directly on Twitter at twitter.com/rickmuir77

Blogs, Bloggers & Twitter

I’m running a Citizen Focus Course for the NPIA this week. Part of the course is an input that I give about marketing and communications and in particular, the need to embrace web 2.0 thinking and techniques and move away from old fashioned ‘organisation out’ messaging and embrace a less centralised approach which builds community and allows people to engage with the brand.

This normally leads to a discussion about the merits, wisdom and benefits of blogging. My view is unequivocal: Colleagues (and BCU Commanders in particular) should be blogging. For me it’s a no brainer because…

You control the message
The only real ‘cost’ is the investment in the time it takes to write each post
It allows you to reach a new and wider audience through an additional communications channel
It presents the human side of policing and allows people to see the challenges and dilemmas that you face.

I find it interesting that whilst colleagues are still coming to terms with blogging (most state that they don’t regularly read blogs, despite the fact that blogging has now been around for quite a while and you are reading a blog at the moment !), the wider world has recognised the benefits of blogging and is looking at the integration and use of new communications channels, such as Twitter (think 140 character micro blogs which allow you to create your own social network (group of friends etc), follow people of interest (Obama, Branson, OpenEyeComms ) or follow specific companies (Supermarket chain X has an upcoming Sale and special product announcements).

It would be interesting for you to find out what your force press office position is on blogs and bloggers. Are blogs monitored by them? Who are the influential bloggers in your area ? What are their hot button issues ? Do any local notables blog ? About what? What is the Press Office stance on citizen journalism and bloggers ? When they hold a meet the press' evening, are influential bloggers invited ?

These, and many more issues, have popped into my thoughts as a result of the recent decision by the NPYD to provide police press accreditation to three bloggers.  There is no doubt that Citizen Journalism is here to stay. What’s your force position on it ?

Sometimes you just despair...

You may be aware that the Supts Blog I previously mentioned has temporarily (I hope) closed down. I have just read with some interest and not a little incredulity the entry and comments regarding the blog on this post at the Inspector Gadget blog.

I am absolutely amazed at the cynicism and narrow mindedness of the responses. I spend so much of my time encouraging, cajoling and trying to assist senior colleagues to get blogging. Not as one respondee to the post suggests, to capture IP addresses (how is your paranoia doing? is the treatment going well?), but to inform, engage and debate real policing issues that are of concern to colleagues and communities.

Supt Ops blogged out of a real desire to become accessible and raise pertinent issues. Instead of criticism of style and content, support, assistance and advice would have been helpful. Or... you could just engage in an informed and rational debate about the type of uniform harness that will most suit you

Sometimes you just despair.

120,000 new blogs created each and every day

More than 122 million Europeans aged 15 and above use the internet each day at home, school or in work, says a report out this week which looked at internet usage in May 2007.

Apparently, the average European accesses the net 16.5 days in a month, and spends 24 hours viewing 2,662 web pages.

The Netherlands has the highest net penetration, with 83% of the country online.

Germany had the largest online population, with 32.5m net users aged 15 and above.

The UK had the most active online population, spending more than 34.4 hours online each month and a peak of more than 21.8m people online in any given day.

I have also been looking at a report on the growth of blog traffic (this Open Eye Communications website is actually a blog not a website). the blog search engine Technorati monitors the state of the 'blogosphere' and publishes regular reports. It finds that in April 2007 there were:

• 70 million weblogs
• About 120,000 new weblogs created each and every day, or...
• 1.4 new blogs created every second.
• There were 1.5 million posts per day, or...
• 17 posts per second

The growth from 35 to 75 million blogs took............just 320 days

The number one language for blogs (great dinner party knowledge here) .............Japanese (English was second at 33%).

Yet, and here is the issue which points to the insularity and narrow focus of the service, the overwhelming number of colleagues on courses that I run (95% +) still say to me 'what's a blog'. The BBC run them, all national newspapers reference them, vicars, tarts and celebrities have them, but colleagues aren't looking at or using them. A wasted opportunity if ever there was one.

Don't even get me started on how little colleagues know about their own divisional or force website usage and traffic !

Less than 1% of people...

Those of you who have heard me talk at conferences and training venues will know that I am always banging on about the importance of customer feedback.

Well, now it's my turn to seek some feedback from you. I need your help.

The regular readership of this site has now grown (thanks for reading !) to the point where I feel the need to ask you how I can make the site better for you.

What would you like to see included? What issues would you like covered to a greater level? Does the design work for you? How can I improve it? Should I move to a two column format ? What should I leave out? In short, how can I make this better for you ?

My main purpose in writing the blog has always been to try and provide a useful, free and up to date one stop resource for you that highlights key documents and strategic issues in policing.

So. Feedback please. ( FYI - statistically less than 1% of people who read blogs then go on to contribute to them... Go on, surprise me ).

All contributions gratefully received at mike@openeyecommunications.com

 

Hillary and Obama, Segolene and David

Hillary Clinton launched her race for the US Presidency on her website and has placed web interactivity at the heart of her strategy. Both candidates for France's Presidency are using their web sites as a vehicle for online forums and debates. In the UK, David Cameron is a regular video blogger and David Milliband’s blog has been nominated for awards. Underestimate the power and reach of the internet at your peril. It is a strategic tool that, used well and wisely, amplifies the voice of genuine interaction and interest.

Within the UK police service it is something barely used and its potential as a leadership tool is very little considered or recognised. I have lost count of the number of police officer delegates on courses that I deliver who still ask me 'What's a blog?'.

Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom is using his blog to some effect to stimulate a debate about funding cuts and the type of policing that the people of North Wales want delivered on their behalf, but look away from that and what do you find ? A slew of ‘frontline’ blogs generally airing disaffection and organisational unhappiness. Some amusing, most not, few that add anything to the delivery of a more effective policing service. Certainly none being used as a tool for strategic leadership.

So where are the BCU Commander and command team blogs ? Why aren’t they seizing the opportunity to engage in interactive debates about the service they provide, about policing in their area? Is it fear, lack of knowledge, a reluctance to put any effort into anything that isn't directly related to some form of iQuanta measurement?    

Ask Hillary, Obama, Segolene, David or Richard. The benefits of leadership blogging are many. The downside in a medium that you control, limited.  

And the winner is...

So, the iniative has finally been siezed, the opportunity grasped. UK police chiefs blog. And not one, but the whole top team.

The unlikely source of this initiative, North Wales Police and Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom. Much credit to you Chief.

Richard has always been a man who steered his own boat, so I guess it should come as no suprise that he has siezed the initiatve on this issue. Nice also to see the Dep and ACC having their own blogs. It will be interesting to see how they all develop. No bad model is the way that HP approaches blogs. There you can see a number of blogs from different perspectives but all under the HP umberella.

It's early days for the site, but the lack of any RSS feed or comments facility greatly restricts its interactivity.

The site has attracted a number of comments from other police bloggers and I have been suprised by the cynical and often vitriolic views expressed by 'alleged' front line members of staff. Is the 'them and us' culture really so prevalent ? Is having a rank above Inspector really grounds for such ill informed and personal abuse ? Apparently so.

I wish Richard and his team every success in their efforts. I am currently working with other colleagues to try and bring their teams into blogging and seeing Richard's initiative can only give them encouragement.

Blogging

The United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research recently began funding a new research area that includes a study of blogs. They believe that blog research may provide information analysts and warfighters with invaluable help in fighting the war on terrorism.

Funding for the 3-year project is approximately $450,000. Now that's taking things seriously !

Another recent study claims that 34% of major corporations will start blogging this year.

Go and search for police blogs. You will find a few (a very few) police leaders blogging (not in the UK though), a good number of police department PR outlets masquerading as blogs, and (by far the biggest category) individual front line officers and staff who blog.

These individual staff blogs mostly focus on the frustrations and inadequacies of the organisation and the government as seen from the perspective of a front line service deliverer. They do little to reflect the great work that goes on day in and day out across the service. Cynicism rules.

So where are the police leadership blogs? Why is nobody siezing the opportunity to show their community leadership, to highlight the good work of their team, to be the voice in their area.

I spend a lot of time exhorting colleagues to get involved in blogging, I talk about it on the courses that I run. But colleagues seem reluctant to get started?  Why?

Time? Fear? Knowledge? The unknown? Don't want to take the lead? Please let me know...

Leadership Blogging Programme

Just a quick update on the progress of the Leadership Blogging Programme that Griff Wrigley and I are starting up for the police community in the UK and the US.

We've put together a short overview of the programme which can be downloaded as a pdf file here. Download leadership_blogging_programme .pdf

A small group is now coming together and I hope to post some news about that before too long. Meanwhile, if you are interested in joining the programme and realising some of the benefits that leadership blogging can bring to you and your command ( greater visibilty, accessibility and familarity ) please get in touch. We can start you off at any time.

Another 'heads up' for you. In addition to the three month personal coaching programme, we are planning a small number of one day workshops to be held in the UK in the Autumn.

Get in touch if you are interested.

EPolicing - LAPD style

I have been watching the evolvement of the LAPD Blog with interest.

Whilst I believe that they have fundamentaly missed the point of blogging as a mechanism to offer an insight into the views, thoughts, and issues facing the leadership of the LAPD ( a conversation with many, making the leadership visible, accessible and familiar ) and have chosen instead to use it as a broader vehicle for press and PR purposes, it is nonetheless engaging.

If you're listening LAPD, I would still argue strongly for a separate blog to this for the Chief and the leadership team ! People (including staff) want an insight into the issues and challenges facing the top team and want to know where they stand and what their views are. Blogs aren't for PR press releases and recycled speeches. They are about personal interaction.

With Tony Blair's speech on services designed for the customer and fit for the 21st century in mind, it was interesting though to see the way that the LAPD is developing its EPolicing content.

Their recent post states: 'The Department very recently unveiled two new programs, "E-Policing" and "Crime Maps" both that can be found at http://lapdonline.org/e_policing.  E-Policing allows Los Angeles residents and business merchants to received "timely" information about crimes, wanted suspects, police programs, and other information via their personal e-mail address.  All you have to do is sign-up, and the system will link your address to the concerned Senior Lead Officer of your Division/Area.  Unfortunately, the address must be within the City of Los Angeles, and does not cover the county, or adjacent cities.   

Crime maps provide you with a system to identify the crime trends in your neighborhoods, again in a timely manner, as the information is updated Monday through Thursday.  Other links available to you on the home page can connect you to the proper authorities should you have information about a crime, or wanted suspects'

I have long ranted about the way that crime and incident information is generally presented by forces in the UK and I believe that there is little excuse for the information not being current and easily accessible. LAPD update their information Monday through Thursday and have an effective partnership with Google maps. Now that's heading towards 21st Century service provision !