SOCIAL media has become a vital crime-fighting tool for Bathurst police as officers go online for many of their cases.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Chifley Local Area Command police used Facebook to pass on information about two recent missing children cases in Bathurst – a 12-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl.
While the Chifley LAC-NSW Police Force Facebook page has more than 4000 “likes”, the posts of these two missing children reached more than 32,000 people thanks to those visiting the site sharing and liking the posts.
“In that 24-hour period, we had a jump from 4399 to 32,942 – that’s an 800 per cent spike in traffic to our Facebook page,” Chifley LAC customer service duty officer Inspector Colin Cracknell said.
While it is not always about the numbers of likes or shares on Facebook, he said in the case of a missing person it is definitely a benefit.
“It’s an absolutely fantastic medium for us to use, especially with a missing person,” he said.
Police officers also use Facebook to seek further information or witnesses to a crime, as well as spread information about accidents, bushfires and storms.
“We don’t do this to try and promote who’s got the most friends, it’s about us trying to get the message out to people who live and work in our command,” Inspector Cracknell said.
“It’s a very important tool. We use it for investigation purposes as well as a general information tool.”
Chifley LAC crime manager Detective Inspector Andrew Spliet said residents are the “eyes and ears” of the community and their feedback on crimes or missing people can often lead to success.
After 18 years as a police officer, he said technology gets “better and better all the time” and the LAC’s Facebook page has brought much success.
“It allows us to get more information out there to the public in a timely manner,” he said.
“If you see a post we put on there and you have a relevant comment, feel free to put that on there, or if you don’t want to put that in a public forum, feel free to call us.
“If it’s sensitive, we’d prefer to speak to the person.”
While the LAC’s Facebook page has allowed the public to have easier communication with the police, he said crimes should not be reported via this social media site.
