About Sussex Police People
About Sussex Police People
Get unique insight into the reality of policing
Sussex Police People offers an up-close and personal view of policing directly from those doing the job, and promotes new ways for the public to keep in touch with the Force.
Over the next year, twelve people across the Force will be regularly sharing their policing stories in pictures, videos and words. They come from different backgrounds and locations, and some are in roles the public wouldn't normally know about or see. The participants will change a few times a year, highlighting different jobs and responding to areas of public interest.
The officers and staff have volunteered to take part and will post updates to the Sussex Police website via Tumblr. Their posts won't be edited or delayed, so will be an eclectic mixture of observations, stories and feelings told in their own way. Each person will also be interacting as much as possible on their Twitter accounts.
Chief Constable Martin Richards explains: "We're in a period of
extraordinary change for policing with important questions being
asked nationally about the transparency and accountability of
police forces. In the midst of this debate, it hasn't always been
easy to show the public what policing is really like or give them
an easy way to talk to us and get more involved.
"Sussex Police People is our answer to this. It will provide a
behind-the-scenes view of how we police Sussex and a window to the
thoughts, feelings and experiences of our police officers and
staff. We will be showing the public aspects of policing that they
might not know about, and offer new ways for local people to share
their views with us.
"For me, policing has always been about people. The personalities,
experiences and stories of real people, either those who work for
us or those we are here to help, bring policing to life. I hear
these stories everyday and am eager to share them with you."
Mr Richards continues: "The technical side is interesting, but
what's most important is how Sussex Police People will help us
speak and listen to local people in the best ways possible, to help
them better understand what we do and to make us as accessible as
possible. Some of this can be achieved by innovative use of
technology, but this will not be at the expense of other effective
methods.
"We will lift the lid on policing in 2011 and highlight many ways
people can interact with us, whether online or off. While the live
event may last a day, we have a genuine and lasting commitment to
being open with people about how we work and listening to their
views. I'm hopeful that people who are interested by the event will
stay in touch well into the future."
Live launch day
We ran Sussex Police People: Live, the first event of its kind, on Friday 28 October. It marked the start of Sussex Police People a year-long project that is part of our ongoing commitment to forging closer links with the communities we serve.
The stats for our live event: in total there were 73,959 views of the live footage, 4,624 views of the edited highlights, 5,321 webchat messages were received and 477 people Tweeted the main @sussex_police account or used the #SPPlive hashtag. Many others interacted directly with participants on their Twitter accounts and offline.
But the day wasn't about stats - we wanted to show authentically what a day Serving Sussex is really like and give you a chance to get involved. We hope we did this. Please give us your feedback.