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10,000 a month pressing the button for help
A short 30 second film, narrated by ITV’s ‘The Bill’ actress Amita Dhiri:
Millions of young people have been made safer online thanks to a major step forward by AOL owned social networking site Bebo and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.
On Tuesday 17 November 2009, the ‘CEOP Report’ button, which gives Bebo users a powerful tool to report online abuse and illicit activity, was added across the Bebo website to enhance its existing ‘Report Abuse’ functionality
By clicking on the CEOP Report button – which will appear on every profile as an automatic setting – young people, parents and carers will be able to access to the latest advice and help around issues such as viruses and hacking. Users will also find details of their local police and will be able to directly contact specially trained CEOP officers via an online reporting mechanism.
‘CEOP Report’ is an online button which gives children and young people, their parents and carers access to immediate online advice with just one click where they see the ‘CEOP Report’ sign. It gives information on areas including viruses, cyber-bullying, hacking and online grooming by signposting to experts in each particular field. The CEOP Report button sign also allows users to find contact details for their local police or to contact specially trained CEOP officers through an online reporting mechanism. Behind the button it is possible access to a global network of law enforcement partners called the Virtual Global Taskforce which includes partners in Australia, the United States, Canada, Italy and Interpol.
Any user of the service will not only be able to access advice and support from CEOP, but also have direct links to a total of ten different sources of help ranging from Childline to Beatbullying, building on Bebo’s existing support partners, housed within the BeWell platform.
Around 10,000 people a month are already pressing the button for advice and help across other online services.
Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said:
“There can hardly be a parent in the land whose teenager isn’t part of a social networking site. These environments are huge and bring a vast array of converged facilities – uploads, downloads,p chats and so on – that are now so integral to young people’s lives.”
“What today means is that every member of the Bebo community has one-click access to a powerful tool that gives them safety help and advice as well as that ultimate reassurance, the ability to find their local police or to speak to us direct via an online reporting mechanism.”
Posted in Project Updates
MyPolice team talk about professional practice online
Today we are working with Evolve – a service based at Glasgow School of Art to help students and alumni with their professional practice. Evolve collaborates with the Careers Service at GSA and Scottish Institute for Enterprise to bring the students and alumni of GSA competitions, events and seminars to help them with the transition from students and graduates to members of the creative industries!
Please do say hello if you are going !
MyPolice on stage at Policing 2.0
On 22 October 2009 MyPolice presented at Policing 2.0 – The Citizen and Social Media Conference in Coventry. You can read a review of the event on Lauri’s ConnectedCops blog.
The event included presentations from police forces leading in the use of social media (facebook, twitter etc) in engaging with citizens. See our pics here.
Here is a snippet of footage from our presentation:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
more about “MyPolice on stage at Policing 2.0 on …“, posted with vodpod
MyPolice need a developer
We are looking for a developer to join the core team of this amazing project, someone that practices things like:
-MUST have experience with the Methodology (with a capital M!) of MVC development, agile release cycles, working from user stories,
– Someone that loves coding, loves to play with a range of languages such as Ruby, Phython, PHP, Java etc
– Experience with test driven design a plus – (cucumber, rspec, shoulda, etc)
– Agile-Fu skills. Understands working with user stories, iterations, release early and release often
– The right developer will have the freedom to innovate around the technologies used within the project
– Live and be around Glasgow, we need you to work closely with the core team to build things quickly
-Desire to participate and collaborate with designers in generating concepts, prototyping, sketching, user testing, workshops, etc.
– Understands deployment and hosting of website, basic sys-admin-fu skills
-Experience with deploying and maintaining applications through cloud / virtualised infrastructure, with services such as Amazon AWS, RightScale, etc
To apply send us a link to your portfolio, linkedin, sites you have created and we’ll go from there!
We’re looking for someone who will actually come in and be part of the company, and work with us to make MyPolice something great. We need someone who lives in Scotland with experience and commitment. Ideally, we are looking for someone who has been through the experience of setting up a business before.
We want our developer to work with us not for us, so we can look at alternative ways of building the site. Basically our developer would be a co-director and have a large input on the shape of the site.
We want someone who will work well with designers to create common understanding and language, rather than sitting at polar opposites as is so often the case.
We’re offering an immediate start. Salary 25 – 30K
Interest for this opportunity closes on Wednesday 18th of November…
How Scot’s blog brought English council to its knees
A SCOT is being hailed as a symbol of democracy after his blog brought down a town council.
Niall Connolly was dubbed the “Lone Blogger” after his criticisms led to a mass resignation by councillors in Somerton, Somerset. His blog, Muck and Brass, accused the council of secrecy and a lack of consultation. The politicians have claimed the blog was vindictive.
But Niall has become something of a hero to communities fighting for a voice. The 58-year-old said: “What has astounded me is the level of support I have received from all over Britain and all over the world. What I have found is that the story resonates with so many people who want to share Somerton’s success in their own towns. There is clearly dissatisfaction with our elected representatives.”
He now plans to write a “toolkit for change”, which will be an A to Z for people wishing to follow his example. Somerton is still without an operational town council after 12 councillors quit. A new election is planned for December. Niall, a photographer from Edinburgh, started the blog soon after moving to Somerton in 2006. He felt the council had stopped locals contributing to major projects, such as a new community hall.
He said: “They made statements that shook me to the core. The community was told it couldn’t take part in fundraising. Everything was being controlled by the council. I thought what was happening was entirely undemocratic. It was a complete denial of the community’s part in the project.”
Niall believes his Scottish roots had a big influence on his actions.
“I associate the revolutionary spirit with Scotland,” he said. “It is genetic.
“You can’t bury it and I think it is something that drives you forward.”
Niall started going to council meetings and researching local planning and projects. “If I thought there was something wrong, I would draw the local community’s attention to it,” he said. “It seeped through to the public consciousness slowly but effectively. “I started to lampoon the town council as a way of poking them with a stick and that certainly started to get through.” The “lampooning” was abusive, according to local politicians, who say they had been dubbed Nazis.
Two older ladies were referred to as “the ugly sisters”. But Niall said: “I don’t agree that it was abusive. It highlighted a deep vein of discontent in the community with the town council. The community realised it was being treated with utter contempt and decided that it just wasn’t right.” Matters reached boiling point when 120 locals turned up to a public meeting to protest against a recycling centre being moved.Then they went on to that night’s council meeting.
The public galleries were packed with 160 locals, compared with the usual dozen or so. Niall said: “They started to shout the odds and the council was forced on to the back foot, for the first time in a long time. “There was a lot of robust questioning from the public.” But Niall kept a low profile at the meeting. He said: “I felt this was the community talking and they had to find their voice.” Half an hour into the meeting, one councillor, Tony Canvin, said he was resigning and, according to Niall, there was loud applause.
He then handed in his resignation. One after another, the remaining councillors pulled out their resignation speeches, blaming the “Lone Blogger” for forcing them out. Niall said: “They had never been questioned and they didn’t like it. So they decided to take their toys and play elsewhere.” Niall claims he has suffered racist abuse, a car has been torched outside his house and one of his windows has been smashed. But he said the vast majority of the responses to his blog have been positive.
He believes that blogging is an effective tool to empower the little man and the reaction in Somerton reflects a general dissatisfaction with Britain’s political system as a whole.
Niall, who has won a Blogger of the Year title, said: “I wasn’t saying what many local people weren’t already saying. I think I was just the guy, if the truth be told, who had the courage to put it out there and go public. I think I have made a contribution. I never wanted to bring down this council. The best I could hope for was to push it slightly.”
Niall has no intention of running for office himself, saying that he only wanted to shake the community from apathy and give power back to the people.
“This is the time for the community to take matters into their hands. It is about the community being set free. Bit by bit, you really can change the world.”
Posted in Project Updates
Tagged community, democracy, muck and brass, niall connolly, somerton
Local crime mapping
We want to know what you think of the new crime map that been launched. Do you agree with these folks?
It crashed within a few hours of launch because the site was so busy…this must mean this is what the public want right? or are you just curious? how often would you visit the map? I typed in my post code and my friends and there was ‘no data available for this area’…
Posted in Project Updates
Police at Tesco copshops
“Tesco is to open its doors to the police so they can mingle with shoppers and boost community relations. Officers will wander the aisles, talking to customers who can alert them to problems they may have. They will also set up in the supermarket’s cafés, with shoppers invited to have “a coffee with a copper” for advice.
Tesco bosses also hope the police presence will deter shoplifters. The supermarket giant’s security director Alan Brown – a former Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner – said: “Tesco is at the heart of the community so it makes sense for us to work with the police. Local businesses joining forces with the police is a great way of building safer local communities and builds on our commitment to customers and neighbourhoods.”
Tesco is this week asking all its stores to get involved with their local force. It says special constables who lose their jobs will be first in the queue if they have any vacancies for managers, team leaders or customer assistants.
Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said today: “We greatly value the help that Tesco can provide in supporting our Safer Neighbourhood Teams.”
Morning all: two community police officers mingle with shoppers at the Tesco store at Rainham. The supermarket giant will open its doors to police to boost community relations
What do the public think?
“Check out your local bobby ..”?
No, check out your local plastic bobby. The two pictured for this article have no more powers than the little old lady in the background.Labour’s coppers on the cheap.
Frank, Home Counties, England.
Do they seriously have nothing better to do?
Bob, Cheam
Building community relations is key in the prevention and apprehension of ‘bank robbers, violent criminals, rapists and muggers’ as people developing increasing trust to inform and report.
although this idea comes across as twee, think back to before tesco, people would talk to the local police officer as they did their shopping, maybe this is just moving with the times??
Bethan, london, uk
I wonder how many bank robbers, violent criminals, rapists and muggers the police will apprehend in Tescos?
Upon seeing the police in Tescos I am positive that many peeps will give the rip-off stores a wide berth.
Reuben Camara, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR
What do YOU think?
Posted in Project Updates
Not in My Neighbourhood Week
MyPolice love Not in My Neighbourhood Week, a national scheme which encourages people to learn more about work being done to tackle crime, will run from November 2 to 6 and is an opportunity for police and partner agencies to showcase the work they do to make communities safer and improve their quality of life.
Throughout the week officers and partner agencies across Avon and Somerset will run operations to action specific neighbourhood issues and encourage communities to engage with the police and play their part in tackling crime.
A range of initiatives will happen over the course of the week such as operations to tackle anti social behaviour, dangerous driving, drugs to more light-hearted events such as crime reduction bingo for elderly residents.
Chief Constable Colin Port, said:
“Not in My Neighbourhood Week is a great opportunity to proactively work with people to find out what their main concerns are and show the general public that we are tackling the priorities they have identified. Anti social behaviour and crime has such a big impact on the quality of life of local residents and this is a week to showcase the ongoing work we do in partnership with local agencies to tackle these problems.”
People tell the truth
The National Young Volunteer Service, have created Voicebox to curate the views of young people, to visualize these view points and set them free.
“We want to make sure the government have an accurate picture of what young people are really like.We are asking people to tell us what they care about, so we can take these messages and put them in the Houses of Parliament in October 2009. These messages are being written out, word by word, stroke by stroke by The Voicebot, an industrial writing robot arm which is connected to the internet. Visit www.vinspired.com/voicebox to have your turn.”
This week we will be posting up the viewpoints that #mypolice share. Absolutely brilliant initiative.
Posted in Project Updates
MyPolice 