With Australians being some of the highest social media users on the planet, Facebook is seen as an ideal tool for WA Police to communicate and engage with the community.
The WA Police Facebook page will provide a range of up-to-the-minute information for the public, including news, law changes, appeals for information, crash statistics, articles on police events and operations throughout WA Police, recruitment information, arrests and emergency information.
WA Police first embraced social media in 2010 with the launch of the WA Police Twitter page. Both Facebook and Twitter will be used alongside the agency’s current communication channels to interact with the public and media.
Acting Director Media and Public Affairs, Inspector Bill Munnee, said that by introducing Facebook, WA Police is coming in line with other policing agencies both within Australia and overseas. “This is our opportunity to relay information to a wide audience and we can respond to queries that are important to our Facebook fan base,” he said. “With Facebook we can disseminate critical information quickly, and particularly during an emergency situation we’ll be able to relay essential details to a very large audience.
“Queensland Police Service proved the benefits of its Facebook page with Cyclone Yasi and the horrific floods that ravaged that state earlier this year, with more than 170,000 ‘likers’ who followed events on the QPS Facebook page at the height of the crisis. It just makes good sense that WA Police gets on board with Facebook as well,” Inspector Munnee said.
