Thursday 28 January 2016

Name change as epLdc evolves into the long term

This project started three months ago in response to how Essex Police was changing and how that may effect the people in Essex.

From today, I've dropped the words Essex Police and Live from the website and twitter name to focus on the five core elements and called everything epLdc.

I've carefully chosen a neutral banner - in this an almost clear sky and a tranquil still water that reminds me of sitting on a river bank while contemplating the world. A few year's ago I called this Blue Sky Thinking ..  

That means essexpolicelive.blogspot.co.uk now becomes epldc.blogspot.co.uk - it was also not really the intention to ever be on twitter, that was an extension of where active social officers live - tweeting from mobile on the move.

I'm also looking for more freedom to post about wider issues in the community and how an Analogue something progresses to Digital everything.

Like everyone in Essex, I was hoping for much better job news concerning PCSOs. In my view, twitter is the perfect place to get a fast message out to a community. 

Yet, with a reduction in PCSOs from 250 to 90 meaning a loss of 160 jobs, we're all in some holding pattern until April 2016.

As of today, 22 of the 108 Essex Police Twitter accounts are PCSOs that's 20%. They tweet fantastically  -  with Brentwood having two awesome accounts: @PCSOMatGrimwood and @PCSOSarahRaison (both with over a 1,000 followers).

From my other work with UK and Toronto Police, I've helped a lot with Live Video - yet in Essex I've heard nothing at all about any interest to hold local community meetings on video and reach a wider audience (of course while still having the public welcome in the room). The best example is the last Essex Police Challenge (12 Nov 15), but that only happens once a quarter.

In Summing up, there's a lot of social game play going on. And that's why I'm taking the long view to get to the bottom of it all. 

One example is how people and Orgs still do the face to face meeting - when in reality it's just not that efficient. The Internet and group video calling makes that so fast and easy. 

And I've said a thousand times how in 2016 is even easier than before to make this happen, often using just a mobile. 

I see my role in this like an archeologist scratching away at something the size of a thumbnail I found in the dirt - not knowing if a few bones may lead to a tyrannosaurus rex. And that's just the challenge..  


Thursday 14 January 2016

Essex Police Twitter Account follower change 4 to 14 Jan 16

slide one
This post is about twitter followers numbers and growth in the last ten days.

And when you see the results, we can ask some deep questions - mostly of PC Alan Conran who's just added 250 followers.

The average follower growth is 13 for all accounts. Therefore, PC Alan has grown at 19 times the average.

Slide One shows six labelled accounts, those who've added over fifty followers.
slide two

From all 105 accounts, we can see a percentage
change where the average growth is 2.91%

This slide is a little ambiguous as percentage does not reflect total followers.

In this case, it's used to illustrate how SC Mike Swinerd has a new account that is growing at a very fast rate. This is also true of PC Josh Haase and PC Alan Conran.

You can read the data set here.

In my opinion, other accounts could benefit from learning how an office like PC Conran makes this happen. If you have not seen already, the local newspaper is usually fast to publish PC Conran's tweets.

It's also good to see a few embedded tweets and a twitter handle mention - this builds trust. There are many examples from the Essex Chronicle (try this search) or today's Wood Street Armed Robbery story.

I use twitter to stay up to date with emerging local news. I find officer tweets far more reliable, in realtime, than the Essex Police UK twitter account.

And when I saw there were no tweets or facebook posts for seventeen hours (despite a stabbing and a knife point robbery), I tweeted the Chief Constable with a suggestion:



This post is part data, part discussion. In other parts of the world, there are PIOs (Public Information Officers). One example is Trooper Ben from Kansas Highway Patrol. I will him tell you what he does and how he does it.

Monday 11 January 2016

Essex Police Senior Information and Advice Event at Springfield Parish Centre

Essex Police and some local partnerships are holding a Senior Information and Advice Event.

This will be held at Springfield Parish Centre, St. Augustine's Way, Off Beardsley Drive, Springfield, Chelmsford, CM1 6GX.

This will be held on Thursday 28th January 2016 from 10.00 to 12.00.

Monday 4 January 2016

New Year's Twitter Follower Survey for 104 accounts

From the 104 Essex Police twitter accounts, 20 of them have more than 1,000 followers and 8 of them have more followers than the Chief Constable (1,560).

I'm sure the Chief and Deputy Chief would de delighted to see all accounts have thousands of followers..

Friday 1 January 2016

Essex Police Live Digital Community

In this post, you'll learn about the five areas and the interconnectivity between them.

I'll provide a short answer and where to look more in depth.

This post is long at 3,822 words. It may take you half an hour to read it - but that's fine as it's really here in public to aid my thinking about the topic.

I will cut it up into bite sized chunks and repost where I can. Let's be fair - if anyone looks at an area with a few million people in it - you would expect it to be book length.

To make a start..

All areas whether Essex, Police, Live, Digital or Community are created equal.

In this model, we adopt the network approach. Usually, with the industrial model, organisations create a hub as the centre with spokes radiating outwards.

As a teacher in a school, this is what I experienced, a few line managers then a Head Teacher and a board of governors.

Essex Police