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Halton police turn to social media to get the word out by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff 9 | Friday, April 15, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Halton police are taking a new approach in communicating information to the public, completing their first Periscope broadcasts last week. Periscope, a live video-streaming app for iOS and Android, allows the user to transmit live video via Twitter and permits the viewer to comment and ask questions. On April 7, Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner took to Periscope to talk about the local police service. During the broadcast, he discussed how Halton remains the safest municipality with a population more than 100,000 people in Canada and talked about how Halton police must keep pace with the rapidly growing community. He spoke about how information technology is being used to try to get police to the places emergencies and crime is most likely to take place, when it is most likely to take place. Other information broadcast involved the construction of the new Halton Regional Police headquarters, the approaching Police Day event on May 14 and how only 25 per cent of Halton police time is spent dealing with crime while the rest is spent responding to other emergencies. "We have become the 24-hour, seven-day-aweek emergency response for all kinds of issues. Those are often societal issues, issues dealing Our governments are looking at what level and what areas they can invest your tax dollars, but in the meantime, wherever you are across Ontario or Canada, there is a police service, which is dealing with issues in your community that are far more complex than you may think. Halton Regional Police Service Chief Stephen Tanner by midday. Halton Police Public Affairs Officer Chantal Corner called the pilot broadcast a success and talked about the police service's potential use of Periscope in the future. "Hopefully, we can branch out and have an officer in each district as a (Periscope broadcaster)," she said. "We might broadcast from an accident scene to show a road closure... I think this is a great opportunity to share some of Citizen's Police Academy stuff or a lot of our youth stuff from our TRACK (Teen Random Acts of Community Kindness) to PEACE (Police Ethnic and Cultural Education) Youth Leadership Program.... Maybe we'll share our enforcement campaigns with this. Let everyone know we are in Burlington looking for distracted drivers." Corner said Halton police are already engaged in similar communication with the public through Twitter, but said Periscope brings people face-to-face with an officer and gives them the opportunity to interact and ask questions. Residents interested in joining Halton police on Periscope can download the app and follow them on Twitter @HaltonPolice. with mental health, people in distress, in cases of mental illness or drug and alcohol addiction, neighbour disputes. Our officers respond to these things every day and there is no one else to do that," said Tanner. "Our governments are looking at what level and what areas they can invest your tax dollars, but in the meantime, wherever you are across Ontario or Canada, there is a police service, which is dealing with issues in your community that are far more complex than you may think." By midday, nearly 700 viewers had seen Tanner's video. Another Periscope video discussing the services offered at Halton Police Headquarters in Oakville attracted nearly 300 viewers, while a third video looking at the 911 dispatch centre within the headquarters got around 260 viewers GET THE ULTIMATE IN COMFORT FOR YOUR HOME! 3440 Fairview Street, Burlington Ontario L7N 2R5 Oakville: (905) 827-5585 Burlington: (905) 634-7701 Hamilton: (905) 544-2220 www.broomshvac.ca Save on Top Brands