I look at the poll posted a while ago and see that majority of readers are Police officers themselves, their family or friends, community members and aspiring police officers. Realistically the police officers themselves know what’s going on and have “been there, done that” so I’m curious what the community, family & friends and aspiring police officers want to read about.
When you visit this blog what is it that you want to see other than a running diary of my shifts? Are there topics you’re interested in? Questions that you have? Different perspectives that you’re interested in?
There are 2 ways to get your feedback to me; You could post a comment to this post that will be public and could inspire discussion of it’s own or you can fill out the feedback form that will send your comments to our media liaison and me.
2012 was a social media success for Delta Police with the launch of twitter and this blog, we’d like to take the next step in 2013 and facilitate some more discussion and tailor our content to our audience!
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It seems the Microsoft scam is going around again. I live in N. Delta and had a call yesterday from someone saying they were from Microsoft and I had a problem with my computer. It was “Unknown Name” “Unknown Number” so there was nothing to report. I called him a jerk and hung up! Might be good to warn people to beware and do not give them your information.
That’s a great idea. I’ll put something together about scams and how to legitimately identify businesses calling you in the next couple days.
I’ve been following your blog and am especially drawn to stories about impaired drivers.
I would like a post that details how to identify impaired drivers on the road. For me, sometimes I see drivers that *might* be impaired but I hesitate to call because maybe they’re not and they are just bad drivers. I feel like if I called 911 (and should we call 911?) it would be a waste if it turned out to be a totally normal driver.
Thanks for your posts! I’m actually learning a lot about what you guys do for the past year!
That’s a great question! In September 2012 we actually launched a campaign urging motorists to call 911 if there’s a suspected impaired driver. The media release with some great information is available here on our website.
There’s no perfect way to identify an impaired driver. The document above has some great signs of a possible impaired driver. Drivers that are tired or distracted (talking on cell phones, having an argument with a passenger, etc) may also exhibit the same behaviours, either way if their driving is potentially unsafe it’s worth it to have them checked by police.
I would highly recommend anyone planning to drive with a cell phone use a bluetooth system. If you can’t talk handsfree, get the license plate, pull over and provide as much detail as possible. If you can safely follow the driver from a distance and use a handsfree system to provide the call taker with the current direction of travel and behaviour you’ll more than likely witness police arrive and pull the vehicle over.
I’ve taken several calls with someone following a driver exhibiting poor driving behaviour. Some have definitely been impaired, some have been tired or distracted and some were just poor drivers. All warranted contact with police either to stop and prevent a dangerous situation or remind them to be responsible on the roads.
The only piece of advice I’d give to speak to the “waste of time” is that exhibiting just one sign once may be a simple mistake, a cough or a sneeze, etc. If you see multiple signs and/or consistent displays of those signs don’t ever feel bad about reporting them.
Cst. Ingram, your blog brings back memories of my tours as a patrol deputy in Florida. Your blog is a great view into the calling of law enforcement. Social media hadn’t even been thought of during my time on patrol and I’m curious as to your thoughts about the usefulness of social media in emergency situations? I wish you and your platoon safe shifts and success in your endeavors!
I think there is a definite place for the use of social media in an emergency situation. The biggest problem is that it’s an open, public network and you can not consider it a mission critical system. There are no uptime or capacity guarantees. Having said that though I think social media has to be a part of a well thought out communication strategy for emergency services. Social media allows immediate dissemination of information directly from the source and viral propagation of that information.
We’ve actually had an armed stand off close to a high school that we had to lock down and our media officer was in direct contact with students and parents via Twitter. We had only started using Twitter that year and it was largely an unexpected benefit. It worked great, those that were connected got immediate, relevant information directly from the Police.
Social media definitely has a place in a well prepared communication strategy but can not be the only platform, especially in a large natural disaster where your telecommunication infrastructure may be over loaded or unusable.
Thank you for your reply, Cst. Ingram. Here in the US, social media has been very helpful in assisting law enforcement with traffic issues all the way to helping students during potentially dangerous storms or other events on school campuses. The only fly in the ointment, so to speak, is a few young people with more time on their hands than good sense using social media to call in hoaxes on others. Has your department experienced that very often?
My husband and I had the great fortune of going to visit a friend in Edmonton for a bowhunting trip. While we were not able to visit other areas, we both truly enjoyed what we did see. I hope you have had safe shifts with all coming home safely. Take care!