New Facebook page lets young people get more involved

Two Arun youth councillors have forged a groundbreaking new communication method using social networking to bring the young people of Arun and Sussex Police together.

Alex Peat, 15, and Harlan Geraets, 14, have spent the last few weeks working with Arun’s District Commander, Chief Inspector Jim Bartlett, and Littlehampton’s Neighbourhood Policing Team Sergeant Peter Allan to create a new Facebook page where young people can pick up handy advice about who their local police officer is, how to stay safe and protect their property and find out the latest news about policing and community safety in the district.

Sussex Police is the first force in the country to work with a youth council to create a dedicated Facebook youth page in this way.

Harlan, who is a student at St Philip Howard School, said:
“It’s been great to work with Chief Inspector Bartlett to come up with this Facebook page. I really think it will be a great resource for young people across the district who do have an interest in policing but who might not know where to get their information from. It’s exciting to think that we are the first people to have worked with the police to create something like this. “

Alex, a student at The Littlehampton Academy, added:
“Facebook is the communication tool for young people at the moment. Almost all of us use it and some of us even have access to it on our phones. Being able to get regularly updated information about what’s happening with crime and the police in our district this way is great. We are going to use the site to spark debate and really get young people interested and involved in the work of local police.”

Both local police officers and Harlan and Alex will be responsible for making sure there is updated information and interesting content on the site.

Arun’s District Commander, Chief Inspector Jim Bartlett, said:
“I am always looking for new ways of communicating with people in Arun so when Alex and Harlem suggested using Facebook, I jumped at the chance.

Like the internet, policing goes on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so social networking seems like the perfect place to keep people up to date.

I hope that the Youth Council’s Facebook page will mean young people can easily find out about, be a part of and influence the work we are doing in their communities as well as making them feel more comfortable contacting Sussex Police.”

'Informed' and 'Involved'.

'Informed' and 'Involved' are two of my most used words. I want to inform our communities about what's going on locally; what we are doing about it and explain to them how they can become involved in placing their priorities for action on the agenda.

We have many ways of keeping communities informed:

Website, Surgeries, posters, Neighbourhood Management Forums, Neighbourhood Watch messaging system, Dog Watch, various local media outlets, Farm Watch, Team Newsletter and more recently, Twitter, to name a few.

I have decided to replace our Team Newsletter with my new blog which can be found at:

http://sgtpeterallan.blogspot.com/

Why the change?

I am really proud of our Newsletter and the part it played in keeping our communities 'Informed and Involved'. I am extremely grateful for the many comments I have received about its content, thank you. I found when it came round to publication time that I was faced with difficult editorial decisions- what's in and what's out. Some pieces were new and others had been in the public domain for a number of days, if not weeks. On occasions I made decisions not to publish some features, so as to not make the finished product too long.

I see my blog bringing the benefits of the same professional look (although I am still getting my head around adding photographs and other gadgets), with news and stories being published as they happen, without waiting weeks for the next edition.

I would, at this point like to single out and thank, PC Dan Bridger who was the technical master behind putting the newsletter together in such a professional format. Thanks Dan.

Please take a look and follow me.

There is a poll contained within the blog and I would really value your views. Please take a look and cast your vote. The poll has been live on Twitter for three weeks and will close on 30th January. I shall publish the results shortly afterwards.

You can find my poll by accessing the link below or via Twitter or my blog:

http://twtpoll.com/m0cn6c

There are so many different ways for people to keep up to date. The world and technology is forever changing. I want to finish by saying that although we are making best use of the many forms of media available, they are not, should not and will not replace the locally accountable, visible and accessible police.

To find out who your local officers are you can visit our website at www.sussex.police.uk or contact your local police station. You will notice that staff's voicemail numbers have been replaced by individual mobile telephone numbers, making it easier to speak to your local officer.

Calls for immediate or prompt police assistance to an incident should continue to be made by calling 999 or 0845 60 70 999.

Thanks for your continued support. Let us know what you think about policing in your area.

Peter Allan