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| The prospect for rioters and thier families.... |
John Feavyour, Deputy Chief Constable has just released this statement following recent National events: The support and messages of thanks we have received from the public throughout this operation have been overwhelming. I know officers and staff have been grateful to see their hard work has been well received and that the people of Cambridgeshire have been behind the force.
Thankfully, the county saw no major disorder and I was impressed by the willingness of the community to continue with business as usual and use social media in a positive way.
We are now at a stage where we can start to return officers and staff to normal shifts and focus on daily police business. My officers and staff have gone above and beyond to ensure the county was protected and I am humbled by their efforts. Everyone has worked long hours and despite being exhausted have kept smiling and carried on.
The frontline operation was heavily supported by Specials, PCSOs, the forces' IT department and corporate communications, to name a few. A lot of the time, this work can go unnoticed, but they have all played an invaluable role in the success of this operation. We are making arrangements to return those officers and staff to their normal shift arrangements and ensure people have the chance to rest.
During the week, 22 arrests were made linked to the operation, with 16 arrests in connection with a violent disorder in Cambridge. A further six arrests have also since been identified as possibly being connected to the national violence. Four of those were for a criminal damage in Peterborough and two for arson, one in Cambridge and one in Peterborough.
In the days following the disorder in London and other parts of the country the force received a number of calls which were concerns about rumours. We invested significant resources in ensuring we had an accurate intelligence picture and were able to quash these rumours.
Much of this work took place online through Twitter and it seemed to pay off as people felt they could message @cambscops and check the veracity of what they had heard. I would also like to thank those of you who used the e-cops network to pass on accurate police information to local residents.
Since Tuesday (August 9) the force has been sending police support unit officers daily to the Metropolitan Police and this will continue through to Wednesday (August 17).
John Feavyour
Deputy Chief Constable
Julian Bray comments: Information is a two way street and Cambridgeshire Police quickly and intelligently embraced the advantages of Twitter. We assisted by re-tweeting (copying) the @cambscops messages to our own Twitter followers. We alone were able to reach around 100,000 immediately and some 200,000 as the messages were given the RT treatment by others on Twitter.
A further 4,000 + directly read the re-tweets from the PFNW website. It therefore is a continuing worry when Keith Vaz MP is now saying (August 15th Sky News) that systems such as Twitter should be closed down. By lumping the open and very accountable Twitter system, in with the closed 'furtive' Blackberry mail system (BBM) used by the majority of rioters, he totally misses the point.
MP Vaz has clearly shown that he has still to fully understand how social media systems, can be harnessed at little cost, for the public good. Hopefully IT people and the many MPs' who subscribe and read this blog can assist him...
.. (C) Stanground & Park Farm News 2011 (C) Park Farm Neighbourhood Watch 2011, Peterborough,UK E&OE Tel: 01733 345581 ALL ENQUIRIES LOCAL NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE: 0345 4564564 OR Dial 999alternatively CRIMESTOPPERS on FREEPHONE 0800 555 111 **** Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, an independent of police charity, will anonymously take and pass on confidential information on crime, knife crime and domestic violence. **** >> Broadcast Quality ISDN 01733 555319 ISDN Codecs G722&ATX >> Media Enquiries: JULIAN BRAY 01733 345581 http://tinyurl.com/STANGROUNDPFNW
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