PC Mike Smith is the Community Beat Manager for the small town of Penmaenmawr in North Wales and he’s recently become something of a celebrity.
As one of the Facebook ‘champions’ in the North Wales Police, he’s been experimenting with the idea of community policing over social networks. His virtual work is one of the reasons that the new Y Glas police hub page was created. The BBC, S4C, local radio, even the Home Office have all sat up and taken notice.
Why are North Wales Police on Facebook?
The idea behind Y Glas is to connect to local people using modern technology — blogs, interactive crime maps and YouTube videos. The story starts with Facebook.
“I was on my own my personal [Facebook account],” explains PC Mike Smith, “and I put in a search for ‘Penmaenmawr’ just to see if there was anyone there. And all these names kept coming up. I didn’t know any of these people and the likelihood of me ever meeting them was nil. They probably hadn’t got a clue who their local bobby was either. So I thought I’d set up a Penmaenmawr site for myself and I sent messages to those people that said: ‘if you want to have a say in local policing, come and join this page’. And a lot of them did.”
At the last count, PC Mike Smith’s ‘Penmaenmawr & Dwygyfylchi Community Police’ group had 116 followers. It’s a simple enough page. There’s some contact information and some related local links. The Wall, meanwhile, acts as an ongoing dialogue between Mike and his Facebook ‘friends’. He uses it to publicise news and events, to appeal for information about local crimes and to post video clips.
“There’s no way I would have met these people in Penmaenmawr,” adds Smith. “But on Facebook they’ve found me and I can reach them all instantly. If you’re trying to get a message to people in the street, it’s a lot harder and much more time consuming.”
What do the police actually do on Facebook?
“All of my initiatives are run locally,” says PC Mike Smith. “I started off with an ‘adopt a street’ campaign, which asks people to adopt their own street and for neighbours to get together to tidy it up. They point out any cracks in the pavement, broken street lights, empty grit bins… and then they come to me. I have an agreement with Conwy council that I’ll action anything that’s been flagged up by ‘adopt a street’ within seven days.”
“I also ran an environmental action day; a clean up of the local area. Part of this was collecting scrap metal, which we then sold in Bangor. With the proceeds from that we bought tracksuits the local U16s… Then there’s the job club I’ve set up, where Careers Wales come over to Penmaenmawr once every three months, and spend a couple of hours in the community centre.”
“The latest thing is Bluelight. Basically, it starts off with discos for 13-17 year-old kids. The first one is on the 31st of July in Penmaenmawr and it consists of a large marquee where the main disco is and another marquee - the ‘chill out zone’ - where the kids can go to have drinks and food. Also in this marquee are the Bluelight partners: the Police Arson Reduction Team, Air Ambulance, drugs and alcohol counsellors, RAF and Army careers, Careers Wales, etc. They are there doing interactive demonstrations. If the kids want to go to them they can. Childline are also involved.”
What do the police hope to achieve?
PC Mike Smith uses Facebook as a way of engaging with local people when he’s not walking the beat. “What we want to be doing is proactive policing; stopping crimes before they happen,” he says. He’s aiming to foster a sense of community that will bloom online and spill back over into the real world. Put it this way: it costs a lot less to spend money on marketing and funding local initiatives than dealing with the consequences of crime.
On Facebook at least, North Wales Police are trying to connect with users on their own terms and in a familiar environment. Not only is it convenient for the public to connect with the police in this way, but it does wonders for the profile of the police themselves. It humanizes them and demystifies them. It shows that the police are willing to be open, visible and accessible, whether you live on a housing estate in Colwyn Bay or a cottage on a remote hillside.
So is this the future of community policing? It’s early days. North Wales Police have plans to extend their online presence beyond Facebook and YouTube to Bebo and Twitter. But it’s important to remember that this Web 2.0 approach to policing relies on what police officers do using the new technology, rather than the new technology itself. The Penmaenmawr project, for example, wouldn’t be a success without the dedication and enthusiasm of PC Mike Smith.
And what about a backlash? Has anyone objected to having the police on Facebook? “I envisaged a few nasty comments when I went on there,” says Smith warily. “But I’ve not had any. Perhaps it’s because Penmaenmawr is too small an area. So far so good.”
Y Glas is online now at www.yglas.com and co-exists alongside the current North Wales Police website — www.north-wales.police.uk.
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