Social media platforms are not only limited to sharing pictures or cat videos. The Cardiff police are actively present on social media to fight crime.
With recent case of detecting the suspect who posted about a crime on social media, it is seen that the police has been greatly assisted by social media for their work. The role played by social media is getting momentum in different sections, such as law popularization, feedback collection, lawless behavior and crime detection and alike. Police stations in Britain have been benefited by these platforms a lot.
On 1 March, tougher punishments were introduced by the new law in terms of using phones while driving. However, this time, they came alongside with heavy advertising campaign on social media. Wherever you are in Britain, you will get exposed to this information bombing constantly once you refresh your apps on your mobile devices.
Can I use my phone as a sat nav? #BePhoneSmart #EyesOnTheRoad pic.twitter.com/An8SC4k2AV
— South Wales Police (@swpolice) March 2, 2017
“We have over 19,000 followers on our Facebook page. Now people also share our posts to their families and friends. Moreover, we also have collected a lot of feedback from them on this platform. It helps police officers to get a grasp of what is going on in our region very quickly,” said Isobel Crough, a member of communication team at the press office of Cardiff Central Police Station.
She says the department is very active and puts up a lot of campaign materials on daily basis. ”We put up a lot of stuff on social media platforms regarding the news–any new laws that have changed or come into being, for example about mobile phone usage when driving. From my perspective, when laws change, we use social media a lot to get these messages out to the public. This is the quickest way to reach the users,” said Isobel.
Laws and the police, in the past, seemed to be distant for average citizens, as they were mostly considered to be associated to lawbreakers. What was worse, the channels for citizens to reach the police were also quite limited. However,gone are the days when the number 999 was the only thing that would cross people’s mind when it comes to contacting them, a shift has been brought by social media.
If you want to know more about legal information and reach the police in Cardiff more easily? Search for South Wales Police Cardiff on Facebook and you will definitely get what you want!