Birmingham South Police – Tweet-a-thon 2

It was in January that I wrote a blog post entitled “It’s All About Communication” that described how my local Police force, Birmingham South Police had been hugely successful in using micro-blogging site Twitter to engage with the local community with the goal of educating on what West Midlands Police were doing to keep the streets safe, and to engage with members of the public who wanted to know more about many aspects of modern Policing.

As a result of the impact of that blog post, I was approached by the Superintendent Tim Godwin and the Community Partnership Team at Birmingham South Police to see if I could help them understand the further opportunities Social Networking can offer the Police for building relationships in the local community.

Since then I’ve been thrilled to be able to work with Birmingham South Police (BSP) as I see it as a real opportunity to help implement positive changes in my local area of Weoley Castle – the area I was raised in, started-up and ran a business in, and still live in today.

Interacting with the Police

Like most, the only interaction I’ve really had with the Police in the past was when something negative had happened to me – it’s the nature of the Police’s work that you’re not going to call them for assistance when everything is alright! But since I’ve been involved with BPS, it’s been a huge eye opener for me to see the work that they do – and the genuine success stories they’ve experienced in effectively partnering with the local community to tackle crime.

But as I spoke about in my original blog post – like many organisations and businesses in the service industry, it’s not enough that the Police do a good job – for people to understand and “feel” happier they need to communicate what they are doing that benefits their “customers”, and why.

Tweet-a-thon

Which is why I think Birmingham South Police holding a 24-hour Tweet-a-thon for the second time (or, as it’s being calling – “T2”) is important to raise awareness of the good work that they do to keep people safe and to lower crime rates.

From 7am tomorrow, Thursday 7th July, the Birmingham South Police Twitter feed will be regularly updated in real-time with details the hugely wide ranging jobs Police Officers and teams undertake during a day and night. Trust me when I say it’s a real eye opener – and I’ll bet that like me, you didn’t realise half of the work that the Police do that takes place in a typical day!

You don’t need to be signed-up to Twitter to view the Tweet-a-thon – just visit http://twitter.com/#!/bhamsouthpolice or visit the Birmingham South Police Facebook page for more details.

If you are signed up to Twitter, then you can follow all the action by following Birmingham South Police or using the Twitter Hash-Tag #BST2.

Tweeting Live

As for me, I’ll be seeing the work the Police do in Birmingham South up close – I’ll be Tweeting from my own twitter account tomorrow live between 3pm and 5pm as I join Sergeant Tim Evans in one of the Birmingham South Police Cars attending call out’s in the area. I hope you can join me on Twitter to see how I fare, and Birmingham South Police to watch their “day in the life of” un-fold!

 

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