City Police Take To Twitter With Help Form University Project

Senior officers from Leicester’s six main police stations are using the social networking site Twitter to communicate with residents, thanks to a unique project with De Montfort University (DMU).

The Twitter accounts will provide members of the public with another means to access up-to-date information on local crimes, witness appeals, significant arrests, convictions and neighbourhood policing events. This information can also be accessed on the Force website.

This initiative has been supported by Professor of New Media at DMU Sue Thomas and her team from Amplified Leicester, a research project involving people from across Leicester to share bright ideas and expertise across diverse communities in the city through innovative use of new media.

Funded by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), Amplified Leicester aims to boost business and communities by using digital networks.

Inspector Bill Knopp, of Leicestershire Constabulary’s Community Safety Bureau, is participating in the research project. He said: “This is a great opportunity for the public the find out in real time what their local officers are doing and to contribute to the discussion about what is going on in their communities.  We are very grateful to Amplified Leicester for the advice and support we have received.”

The police station Twitter updates will be written by the local Inspector for each area and will have links to the Leicestershire Constabulary website.

The individual police station accounts are as follows and need to be inputted exactly:

• beaumontleyslpu
• citycentrelpu
• hinckleyroadlpu
• keyhamlanelpu
• spinneyhilllpu
• welfordroadlpu

Professor Sue Thomas said: “It has been very rewarding to help Bill discover useful ways in which social media can strengthen police initiatives. I’m sure this project will have a powerful impact on the communities it serves.”

Inspector Shane O’Neil, commander of Spinney Hill Park local policing unit, has been using Twitter to communicate with residents since January. He said: “I think it’s a great way to communicate with those members of the community who don’t use mainstream media, in particular young people. The feedback I have received so far from members of the community is really positive.”

Other Leicester people taking part in Amplified Leicester include:

• Carol Leeming Singer Songwriter, composer, musician, poet and playwright;
• Sharon Bown Extended Services Co-ordinator for Countesthorpe Cluster of Schools;
• Laura Horton Project Manager for the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership based at the Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living;
• Dennis Bradley Centre Support Officer at the Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre;
• Ishi Khan-Jackson Stand up comedienne (performing artist) and laughter coach;
• Kenneth Mawomo Editor or EWALIN (Enterprise Within Africa Local and International News Agency);
• Simon Parker Inclusion and Diversity Manager, Leicester Libraries.

The project belongs to DMU’s pioneering Institute for Creative Technologies (IOCT) and the Faculty of Humanities, and is based at Phoenix Square, the new digital media centre in Leicester.

Roland Harwood, Director of NESTA’s Connect programme, said: “This experiment is designed to show how social media such as Twitter and Facebook can be used to connect the city’s disparate and diverse communities and networks. We’re aiming to make Leicester the most connected city in the UK and use these networks to grow the innovation capacity of Leicester for both social and commercial benefit.”

For more information, please contact: DMU’s Press Office on 0116 257 7351 or news@dmu.ac.uk . De Montfort University’s Press Office is now on Twitter. Follow us at www.twitter.com/dmupressoffice . If you would like to be notified whenever a new story about the University is published, sign up to the RSS feed on our Twitter home page.

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