First, I came across some Google Maps crime mapping sites - very slick. Then, looking closer at the Garner NC Police Department site - I found out they even have Podcasts - even slicker.
But, for the slickest of the day - check this out:
I found (via NowSourcing post by Mark O'Neill)
That the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in Great Britain is using a custom Facebook Application to fight crime.
If you're not familiar with Facebook, it's the huge social networking site used worldwide by students, corporations and other organizations. Often times, folks keep their facebook page up on one of their active tabs (when browsing) so they can see what their friends are up to. There are thousands of applications written for Facebook that run inside their service. Most of them are for fun and games, but a few of them are pretty beneficial.
The GMP application can give you streaming crime updates for the area. But - you can also report crime or suspicious incidents through the application.
Now before you blow this off - think about it. I do a lot of work on a university campus and health system - and one thing's for sure; young people today are more comfortable sending text messages, twitter messages and instant messages than making an actual phone call. Notice I didn't even mention email? Yeah - it's still used - but for day to day conversations back and forth it's done quickly and effectively via some type of messaging platform.
There are lots of reasons for this, but one thing you have to remember is that younger folks have grown up in a time where digital communication is the preferred method. If you think about it, all the "thinking on the fly" you do on a telephone call or in person is gone if you're using a messaging platform. You've got time to edit yourself - and say what you truly want to convey. It's not a weakness or being lazy - in fact it's pretty industrious how a generation has transformed communication to fit around themselves. If you were totally comfortable and proficient using that technology to communicate than I bet you'd find yourself using it more and more because it just makes sense.
There's a pretty big gap between most law enforcement/security departments and a large percentage of the population. In my mind, it would make perfect sense to run a workstation in the departments dispatch center that's running IM clients - email - and now a Facebook application as well as receiving SMS messages. But - how many dispatch centers do you know of that would be comfortable with this? Not many at first.
Of course there are legalities that have to be worked out, but I'm sure if you take your Risk Assessment guy out to lunch you can find out what steps should be taken to make sure everything is covered.
