38minutes

MyPolice and Positivity

As some of you know already, I've been working on mypolice.org - a website allowing the public to give feedback to the Police.

We were pretty excited when the Times decided to write a piece on us for this sunday's paper. What resulted was this:

"Police leaders have warned that a new website allowing the public to criticise the service could be hijacked by troublemakers"

followed by ...

"The site, modelled on Patient Opinion, which encourages online criticism of the NHS, will allow people to suggest areas for improvement or to offer praise.

However, officers have expressed concern that the site will be hijacked by disgruntled members of the public to make unfounded criticism."

This did not represent what we are trying to achieve with MyPolice at all. Here is our official reply. Douglas Greenshields has a well-thought out criticism of the negative journalism, plus a view of how a service like mypolice...

MyPolice cannot be further away of being a site which allows people to "shop a cop". In fact, the focus on positivity is one of the main reasons why I signed onto the project in the first place. I have a number of friends in the Police Force (mostly through my rugby connections), and I remember telling Sarah Drummond (who came up with the idea) at the start of SICamp how I wouldn't work on a project which could be similar to Rate-my-cop. The negativity would be too overwhelming. She convinced me that it would be a platform to praise police officers as much as giving constructive feedback. It was going to be a place where the public put their point of view across. This could be good feedback (when was the last time you wrote to thank someone?)

This opinion is further reinforced by James Munro from PatientOpinion, who pointed out that 50% of the feedback they receive on their NHS rating site are positive.

You didn't read it wrong - half are positive.

The team knows that MyPolice edges a difficult line - how to provide feedback without plain rude criticism. We want to encourage positivity (in fact, that's the first word that was written down in our first ever brain-storming session). That's what makes this project so interesting to work on. The point is to provide a platform, not a soapbox.

[cross-post from here]

Tags: good, journalism, mypolice, positivity, social

Add a Comment

You need to be a member of 38minutes to add comments!

Join 38minutes

Comment by Giles McGellie on June 29, 2009 at 23:15: As I clicked the link through to the ST piece I was repeating under my breath Mark Macaskill, Mark Macaskill, Mark Macaskill - and there he was. So very typical. However, it does seem to me that he has a point. The police an the NHS are quite different institutions.

I wonder if there's any research into a correlation between internet usage and attitudes towards policing. Generally it is taken as read that there is an inverse relationship between internet usage and the age profile of the population. And, my suspicion is that as one becomes older one is more tolerant/supportive/positive of/about the police, perhaps because they appear less threatening as they gradully become younger(!!), but even if this isn't the reason, the tendancy may yet be true. If all of this is the case, then it is probable that a web based service such as MyPolice will likely be....difficult.

Comment by rufflemuffin on June 29, 2009 at 12:56: Unfortuneatly, the example I used did inspire the story and this is what keeps getting referenced to in any press that goes out.

What I keep reiterating though, and did to the journalist was that when my bike was stolen the police were VERY helpful and called me back to make sure it was ok, ask about their service.

You're right, I'm going to try and push the press to be positive but everyone loves a bit of controversy. We're looking to meet with public groups and use some of the positive stories that we collect to show how this could work. As James from Patient Opinion mentioned, over half their stories are positive, something the journalist in the Times yesterday failed to mention!

FYI: Stealing dogs is a semi serious crime!

Comment by Sam Collins on June 29, 2009 at 9:27: Congrats on winning SIcamp and the Times article. But eep, they really cut you up in that article! All press is good press though, you just to to use that attention to your advantage.

My two cents: Perhaps use a case study that reflects how the feedback to the police could be positive. When one reads that Drummond got the idea because she was miffed about the police actions after the burglary, one would feel that this is the approach the site users will be encouraged to take, and that it will be a bit of an attack forum.

From the outset you could lay a more productive example as the intended use of the site. Saying "be productive" might not cut it. For example - "My dog was stolen in the park one day. Having called the police, they said that they would be unlikely to find the dog because lots of dogs get stolen in Edinburgh every day. However, they continued to provide feedback on the search and kept me updated all the way which provided reassurance that they were doing their best. I feel confident that they are doing their best and would recommend they treat all cases with such good feedback".

That may not be the most illustrative example, but you get the point. Disclaimer: I steal dogs everyday.