What is a community engagement platform for policing?

A community engagement platform for policing is software that helps police forces manage digital communications, listen to public sentiment, gather community feedback and respond to residents at scale. It combines social media management, social listening, surveys and customer service tools in one place, enabling forces to build public trust, tackle misinformation, ease pressure on control rooms and demonstrate accountability to the communities they serve.

Why is community engagement so important for UK police forces?

Public trust in UK policing is at a critical low - a 2025 Ipsos study found only 48% of people considered their local police trustworthy, and just 19% reported being satisfied with their local force. Effective community engagement helps police forces rebuild trust by demonstrating transparency, responding to community concerns in real time and actively involving the public in local policing priorities.

How does Orlo support UK police forces?

Orlo is trusted by over 90% of UK police forces, making it the most widely used community engagement platform in UK policing. It helps forces manage social media, monitor public sentiment, run community surveys and handle digital enquiries - all from one centralised platform. Orlo is also the only approved supplier on the Police Digital Framework, simplifying procurement for forces across England, Wales and Scotland.

What social media tools do UK police forces use?

UK police forces use social media management tools to publish community updates, run crime prevention campaigns, respond to public enquiries and manage crisis communications. Orlo provides forces with a centralised platform to manage all social channels simultaneously, with built-in content approval workflows, social archiving for compliance, and real-time monitoring to spot and respond to emerging issues quickly.

How can police forces use social media to tackle misinformation?

Police forces can tackle misinformation by using social listening tools to monitor emerging false narratives in real time, responding rapidly with accurate information across all channels, and proactively publishing clear communications before misinformation takes hold. Orlo's social listening and unified inbox tools help forces identify misinformation early and coordinate a fast, consistent response across their entire communications team.

How does Orlo help police forces manage digital demand and ease pressure on control rooms?

Orlo helps police forces manage digital demand by centralising all incoming social media messages and enquiries in one inbox, using automated chatbots to handle routine questions and deploying live chat to triage enquiries before they reach the control room. This reduces the volume of non-emergency contact reaching frontline staff, freeing up resource for urgent policing priorities while improving the public's digital experience.

Is Orlo on the Police Digital Framework?

Yes. Orlo is the only approved supplier on the Police Digital Framework, which means police forces can procure Orlo's platform directly through the framework without going through a full tender process. This significantly reduces procurement time and complexity, making it faster and easier for forces to get up and running.

How do police forces measure the impact of their community engagement activity?

Orlo's analytics and reporting tools give police forces clear data on social media reach, engagement, response times and community sentiment trends. Forces can benchmark their performance against comparable organisations and track changes in public trust over time using Orlo's Trust Indicator. This makes it straightforward to demonstrate the impact of community engagement activity to Police and Crime Commissioners and HMICFRS inspectors.

Home — Sectors ideal for Orlo — Community engagement platform for Police Forces

Community Engagement for Policing

Community Engagement tools to handle demand effectively, manage crises efficiently, tackle misinformation, better understand public sentiment and build trust with the communities you serve.

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The opportunity

UK policing is currently faced with a myriad of challenges. From funding pressures amidst rising demand, recruitment and retention gaps, to a deep rooted lack of trust and a proliferation of digital innovations which can work both for and against their cause, these issues are complex and interconnected.

Effective community engagement which increases efficiency, improves communication with the public and builds trust in the local community has never been more important.

Orlo’s Community Engagement Platform enables UK police forces to capture the voice of their communities through digital comms and respond in real time, turning feedback into change that makes a difference. Whether it’s focusing on prevention over intervention with awareness campaigns, addressing misinformation before it escalates, or ensuring services are accessible to all, Orlo helps police forces to improve public trust, while unlocking measurable efficiency gains.

By uniting digital engagement, surveys, social listening and insight in one place, Orlo helps police forces build trust, drive evidence-led change, and deliver community focused outcomes.

”

The link between communities and the police will continue to form the bedrock of British policing. Local policing will be tailored to society’s complex and diverse needs – with the delivery of public protection being informed by community priorities and robust evidence-based demand analysis.”

Policing Vision 2025, APCC & NPCC

The community need

48

considered their local police trustworthy, a 2025 Ipsos study found.

73

of people reporting crime aren’t convinced it will lead to justice.

19

of the public reported being satisfied with their local police force.

The Orlo solution

Orlo works with over 90% of the UK’s police forces, supporting them with their community engagement in three key areas…

1. Social media management

Orlo helps police forces manage social media, engage communities, build trust, tackle misinformation and improve outcomes through centralised, real-time communication.

The Orlo platform allows police forces to manage social media more effectively, engage communities at scale by launching campaigns and measuring their impact, respond quickly to their communities and tackle misinformation before it spreads. By centralising social communication forces can not only better serve their communities but also ease pressure on control rooms by managing inbound demand more efficiently. By capturing real-time public sentiment they gain greater insight into the needs and concerns of their communities, enabling them to build trust, improve confidence, and demonstrate accountability in every interaction.

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2. Voice of the community

Orlo helps police forces to ask the public for their views, understand sentiment and spot issues through surveys, consultations, listening and monitoring to inform decisions and better engage their communities.

Orlo’s Voice of Community tools, including surveys, consultations, social listening and media monitoring, help police forces gain a deeper understanding of the sentiment of their staff and the general public. Real-time listening helps teams spot emerging trends and issues and allows them to respond through the right comms channels before they escalate – allowing for swift intervention, protecting reputation and avoiding complaints. By actively involving the public in the conversation, police forces can build lasting trust, demonstrate transparency and ensure that the services they deliver truly reflect the diverse needs and priorities of their communities.

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3. Customer service

Orlo helps police forces respond faster, save money, ease team pressure and improve satisfaction by streamlining digital queries through chatbots, live chat and the unified inbox.

Using Orlo’s customer service tools, including chatbots, live chat, whatsapp and sms and the centralised inbox to handle routine questions means forces can respond faster, ease pressure on frontline staff, and prioritise more urgent contact. By streamlining the handling of digital queries across multiple channels, police forces can deliver services that are faster and more accessible. These tools also help demonstrate that they are actively listening to their communities, responding to real needs and taking meaningful action to improve public safety.

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“Working with over 400 public sector organizationsorganisations, we are committed to ensuring our software is secure, compliant and that we hold the appropriate credentials approved by the government”

Hardeep Johal

Orlo, Chief Technology Officer

“To ensure appropriate cyber security controls are in place and reduce cyber security risks in supply chains, the government has required suppliers to hold Cyber Essentials & Cyber Essentials Plus…This PPN applies to all Central Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies”

Supporting over

90

of UK police forces.

Building trust with over

51,000,000

citizens

Handling over

125,000,000

digital conversations

Meet some of the policing team

Sophie Kelly

Head of Emergency Services

Sophie is Orlo’s strategic lead for Emergency Services, having previously worked across both the public and private sector creating and implementing digital contact strategies in contact centres and control rooms. Sophie continues to expand on this work, working closely with industry bodies to make sure there is a unified approach to creating safer communities and sharing transparent and accurate information with the public. Sophie is passionate about a public first approach, with community engagement at the core of all digital strategies.