Team of the year
In 2024, the comms team at Derbyshire Constabulary had a number of objectives to fulfill, all designed to create stronger and safer communities. In line with Derbyshire Constabulary’s strategic aim to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of neighbourhood policing, the team wanted to nurture the relationship between comms and their Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs), and improve how they were using social media, especially with regard to targeting men aged 18-25. The team was also tasked with migrating the force’s live chat functionality, in order to improve internal processes and allow members of the public to contact the police on their preferred channels.
Additionally, in late 2023, there were numerous incidents of indecent images being sent to the force account from multiple users. The comms team realised that the procedures and support around what to do in these circumstances were lacking. There was a significant impact on staff members within the force and within third-party providers, and the team recognised that they needed to take urgent action.
Finally, Derbyshire Constabulary’s comms team had an objective to support the force’s work with Derbyshire County Council and Derby City Council to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls.
The approach
In order to tackle this myriad of challenges, the team delivered on the following projects:
Fostered relationships with SNTs and PCSOs to transform social media presence
Derbyshire Constabulary’s comms team travelled the county to visit 16 different stations and dedicated 58 hours to training SNTs, providing guidance on how best to use social media. They also attended training school sessions for newly recruited Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), in order to improve their awareness and training around social media. The team created a SNT Community Page on the force’s SharePoint to share content for PCSOs to use, empowering all teams to use content appropriately.
During this period of time, Derbyshire Constabulary’s TikTok channel grew by 22,000 new followers and saw over 10 million video views. The team also succeeded in using TikTok to reach their target demographic of men aged 18-25 – men now make up 38.9% of their followers on this channel, and 27.7% of followers are aged 18-24.
The team also consolidated Instagram’s position as a valid comms channel, increasing followers by 5,000 and account reach by 4,500. Both account and post impressions also increased, by 3.4 million and 2.5 million respectively. Video views were up by 1.2 million and story views increased by 288,000.
Furthermore, social media is now part of the re-vetting process. All force members are required to have awareness and read the policy in order to be re-vetted.
Migrated Contact Management System
Derbyshire Constabulary’s former contact management system was complicated to navigate, difficult to log onto, and experienced frequent service interruptions. Its comms team therefore successfully migrated to a new system, securing the team another Golden Ele for ‘Best Use of Social for Community Experience’.
Protected staff from harmful images
The team created guidance, the first in its kind for Derbyshire Constabulary, focusing on the process to be followed when harmful images come through comms channels. They also developed support around the wellbeing of individuals affected by this content.
Following further conversation and collaboration with their third-party social media management provider, a sensitive image filter was developed and deployed in the Orlo tool to redact certain images and protect individuals from viewing harmful content.
As a result, many contact handlers and comms staff have already been protected from viewing potentially harmful images.
Launched VAWG Listening Circle successfully
The team aimed to increase the listening circle around VAWG, in order to boost engagement with women and girls across Derbyshire. Officers from the domestic abuse unit hosted Facebook Live sessions as part of a domestic abuse awareness campaign, where they answered questions and signposted women to where they could access support. Due to the nature of the subject matter, the team found a way for questions to be submitted anonymously via a QR code.
Participants of the first listening circle were extremely positive about the event, noting that there was a great turnout with a strong feeling of trust and support from attendees.
“Working in policing can often feel like a tough gig, so having our hard work recognised by an industry leader who works with such a breadth of fantastic organisations feels like a real achievement that reminds us why we do what we do.”
Rebecca Malpass | Derbyshire Constabulary
On awarding Derbyshire Constabulary’s comms team with this Golden Ele, the judging panel said:
“Managing a large population is not easy. This team worked to get the whole force on board – and embraced new technologies. Their focus on supporting victims and introducing new channels to help was also incredibly impressive.”
ON DEMAND
Orlo’s BIG Social 2024
At BIG Social 2024, we explored the essential building blocks for successful community engagement and looked at how collaboration across the public sector can foster stronger, more resilient communities through brilliant conversations.
We were joined by fantastic speakers from right across the public sector and by some of our incredible Orlo Partners including Luan Wise, Nextdoor, LGcomms and Participation People.
