A WEST Mercia Police officer known to many for his work in Malvern and Worcester has been shortlisted as a finalist in a national competition for his police social media account.
PC Dave Wise, who works as a safer neighbourhood officer in Worcester and prior to that Malvern, has been shortlisted for his @copthatcooks Twitter account in the National Police Twitter Awards.
His account, which currently has over 3700 followers, is used on a daily basis to provide the community with crime prevention advice and local policing information.
As well as that, PC Wise uses it to promote his cookery skills.
The account has been shortlisted alongside two other accounts in the Best Tweeting Individual Police Officer category.
PC Wise said: “It’s very humbling to have been shortlisted for the final – particularly as it’s based on votes from members of the public so it means a lot.
“There are a lot of officers, police staff and volunteers doing really interesting and informative work on social media so it feels great to have been recognised in this way. Twitter is, of course, not the be all and end all to police communication but it is now a significant tool which allows direct communication between officers and the public that isn’t really possible any other way.
“I’ve been behind several ‘police team’ accounts for a few years now but my own account, @CopThatCooks, mixes a wide range of crime prevention style messages with witness appeals and warnings as well as a good amount of half decent cooking – I hope.
“Certainly for me, I feel that Twitter allows people to see beyond just a uniform and breaks down some of those barriers. I’d like to think someone who follows me on social media and has had a conversation with me once or twice would be much more likely to approach me to report a crime or provide information that they may have otherwise kept to themselves.
“It’s also important to have a credible online presence – just like walking the beat so people feel reassured in their local area, being accessible and engaging online as a cop hopefully makes one or two people feel that it is a safer place.
“You can keep up to date with policing news from around Worcestershire by following @SWorcsCops, Worcestershire’s Superintendent @SuptKevPurcell and me too, @CopThatCooks.”
PC Wise will attend the ceremony on December 23 this year at Northamptonshire Police Headquarters, alongside other finalists from all over the country.
The overall winner of the awards will be invited to attend the SMILE (Social Media In Law Enforcement) conference in California in 2017 to share their experience of policing and social media.
