How to interact with the Public? Communication with the public via Social Media is a topic with increasing relevance for police forces. Adapting the new systems, however, poses a number of questions. What messages should police forces publish? How formal or informal should police forces communicate on social media? How do you deal with feedback from the public?

On Nov 2, in a workshop setting, we invited police officers to share their experiences and plans in making use of social media as a communication tool. We were very happy to be hosted at and receive input from the Greater Manchester Police, who have applied a comprehensive social media strategy during the recent riots and have become one of the most popular forces on twitter, with about 100,000 followers. We also received input from researchers and police officers from Canada, Belgium, Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands and other UK forces.

Our workshop was also of interest for the media. Before the workshop started, we took part in an interview with the radio station Deutsche Welle.

Listen to the radio broadcast

Read more on www.dw-world.de