Herts Police has become one of the first police forces in the country to launch its own ‘app’ for mobile phones. It was designed to provide information and safety advice to those attending Sonisphere and Rhythms of the World festivals.
The free app, called SafeFEST, is available on iPhones and Android phones. It offers the latest news and advice for the festivals, as well as weather and travel updates and features the Herts Police Twitter feed and Facebook updates. <br><br>Information is also available on the Herts Police website under SafeFEST – a link is on the homepage under ‘Need to know’ or simply search for ‘SafeFEST’. <br><br>"We are always looking for new ways to engage with those who live in and visit Hertfordshire and, along with Twitter and Facebook, this new application is an innovative way of communicating safety advice and updates with people in the way that they prefer," said Assistant Chief Constable Chris Miller. "I hope people find it useful and wish everyone a safe and enjoyable festival weekend." <br><br>To download the app on the iPhone (it requires the iPhone 4 software update) visit the App Store. For Android phones visit the ‘Market’ and search for SafeFEST. <br><br>You can also follow Herts Police on Twitter @HertsPolice or on Facebook by searching for ‘Herts Police’. The application was created by the in-house communication team and cost less than £60.
Meanwhile, Potters Bar residents and students at the University of Hertfordshire can now find out the latest news from their local officers as it happens, as the teams have signed up to the social networking site, Twitter.
Officers from the Potters Bar Safer Neighbourhood Team will be โtweetingโ under @PottersPolice whilst the University of Hertfordshire Officers are โtweetingโ under @hertsunipolice on www.twitter.com They will be keeping people informed about what they have been up to while out on the streets of Potters Bar and Hatfield.
University Officer PCSO Alex Smedley said: โI would encourage as many people as possible to start following us on Twitter to see what weโre doing to make the University an even safer place to live and work.โ
PC Jo Windsor from Potters Bar added: โTwitter is a great way for us and members of the public to communicate โ and weโre sure people will enjoy hearing the news from the front line.โ
The messages, which can only be 140 characters long, will be sent around once a day and will include information about daily patrols, arrests and operations.
Alex added: โWeโre committed to driving down crime and anti-social behaviour and making it a great place for everyone โ and our updates on Twitter will enable us to showcase just some of the work we do to achieve this.โ
Note that the Twitter account is not for reporting crime and any information on incidents should still go through to the usual numbers
