A parliamentary question regarding the Bunbury police's use of Twitter to gauge public safety perceptions and the effectiveness of the #BunPoliceCBD hashtag. The response clarifies the purpose and limitations of using social media for policing.

AnsweredQoN 1021Legislative Council
Asked
17 September 2015
Portfolio
Police

QuestionView source ↗

BUNBURY
POLICE — TWITTER
1021. Hon SALLY TALBOT to the Attorney General
representing the Minister for Police:
(1) Is the
minister aware of reports that Bunbury police are using Twitter to find out
whether people feel unsafe in the city at night?
(2) How long has
this practice been in use?
(3) What results
is the hashtag #BunPoliceCBD producing?
(4) How is the
hashtag monitored for people who are in danger, or who are reporting a crime?

AnswerView source ↗

On behalf of the Minister for
Police, I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1) WA Police use
social media, including Twitter, to engage with the local community and assess
community perceptions on public safety and other policing issues.
(2) Bunbury
police have been using social media to engage with the community since 20
September 2014.
(3) WA Police
confirm that there have been no replies to the initial tweet, with just two
retweets from the local media.
(4) Social media
is not the appropriate means to request police assistance, nor is it promoted
for that purpose. Calls for assistance, in all cases, must be made via 131 444
or 000.

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