Last year, I researched and wrote an 18-page report for North Wales Police, which looks at how the police could use today’s social networking technologies as part of community policing programmes.
The report, entitled ‘Social Networking & Web 2.0 Policing’, looks at how several organisations have already established themselves on the most popular social networks – Bebo, MySpace and Facebook.
Several police forces in the UK, US and Canada have already launched profiles on social-networking sites. Greater Manchester Police, for example, is already represented on Bebo, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.
The aim is straightforward but ambitious. Beyond basic brand reinforcement, social networks can provide a place where web users can report crimes (often anonymously), chat with police officers and help fight crime.
The report will be published on the NWP website in 2009.
