07:10 ALAN Do the public appreciate that when a police station closes they see that as a service going

g away do they get awareness that those same officers are around on the street. Theres a balance. Sometimes we see less policing because we see less buildings or we see less structure. MATT I think its always very emotive when you have to shut buildings because people associate a building with a policing service. And you have to work really hard at that because actually what delivers great service at a time of crisis or a team of people that can actually pick a long term problem like young people and drinking or that sort of thing is actually people on the streets. So what weve done locally is to explain and identify why that police station is being shut, even to the fact to say that two people came in last week, but what youve got here actually is a neighbourhood team that delivered this. And I guess to some degree that stands alongside colleagues have been doing here around communication. Because I think one of the other great advances of policing is to communicate what were doing. Were nowhere near where we want to be yet, but we employ seven people locally to work on the social media side. Weve got Twitter, blogs, and on top of that Im reporting personally as the Chief Constable through every letterbox every three months. And the feedback from that has been very, very positive indeed. Were trying to get out there more to explain, not just in a mechanistic way, but really explain what were about and why were doing it. 52:07 ALAN The PSNI has embraced social media. You mentioned early the number of officers who are helping pushing that out. Is social media on the other hand policeable? Are we going to see big increases in the number of hate crime arrests or

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are we going to see policing starting to collar people who are doing stuff that they shouldnt? MATT I think social media gives people the opportunity to be foolish in the sense they dont have to think so much about what theyre saying and the impact of that. How the law applies to social media is something that has had to be looked at in quite some detail in the past year. In England and Wales the Crown Prosecution Service only got to public guidance at the end of last year, 2012. So weve taken that guidance. At the moment what were doing is if we get what we think are offences being committed on social media we will report those to the Public Prosecution Service who will make the prosecutorial decisions. And we have prosecuted some people. But for what some people think is offensive, under the law may not be criminal, and thats that gap. Weve taken the guidance from England and Wales, the PPS are looking at that here at the moment, and where we do have overt offences we will pursue them but the laws not quite so straightforward as people think it might be. 53:25 ALAN Do you see any proof yet that the police using social media as a way of communicating is becoming an effective way and brings results? MATT It must be because if you look at ALAN Its still talking to a minority constituency of the public. MATT Im not sure. I think people go onto Twitter. They go onto the blogs now. Just look at people in the street looking at their iPhones, accessing social media to see that communication in the future is much more about that. We cant afford to be behind the times. People have a thirst for policing, they have a thirst for knowledge. We need to get information out there Sometimes thats critical in terms of protecting life. We do have a down side which is rumours can spread very quickly.

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Theres been some cases where someone fears for example abduction, puts the wrong vehicle out there, it gets changed, it gets morphed, and before you know where you are if youre not careful youve got mob rule. And thats a worry to us, particularly in emotive crimes. But we have to live in the social media. 54:30 LIZ We have 175,000 followers now which is the greatest number of any other police. And as the chief said its a space you cannot afford not to be in in relation to communication. If youre using it properly and youre monitoring sentiment, its a great way to environmentally scan to find out whats happening in communities and how you can interact and how you can intercede in issues that are forming within certain areas. Weve had some debates online which have been unbelievable young people, old people we actively engage with that. Our people have the freedom to talk about the work that theyre doing, to pick up the sentiment and then put proactive on the ground operations. 55:15 MATT The only area that Im nervous and this is personal and Liz knows this police leadership and policing is not about celebrity. And our leadership is not about being political. And our leadership should never be about pursuing populist agendas. And I think the social media pushes in terms of the public thirst if youre not careful towards police giving opinions as opposed to fact and view and sometimes explanation. So Im very mindful of that. Ive seen some police not here almost become celebrities in their own right and you shouldnt do that if youre supposed to be impartial and delivering a service. 55:55 ALAN So you think it is something that should nearly be used at a community level at the public level. MATT

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I think it can be used at a number of levels. There are guidelines. But Im just thinking if youre not careful you almost get sucked into being the inner thoughts of Matt Baggott rather than do we have confidence in the Chiefs impartiality and the fact that he lets others speak for him when its more appropriate rather than putting out messages that may more be about just my own ego. Were not celebrities. We are police officers. We have to get that balance right. 56:25 LIZ Every police officer that has the ability and access to our system is acting on behalf of the organisation and its getting that divide theyre not acting in a personal capacity of their views, thoughts whatever, theyre acting in their professional role. Theres very few incidents where we pick something up and say

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