The BCRPs 12 crime prevention days of Christmas - day 8

Day 8’s topic of conversation is a bit more shameless self-promotion as we wanted to highlight the benefits of our instant messaging service.

Currently we utilise the service of Blackberry to help connect our members together with one another, the BID Ambassadors, BCRP staff and some of our police colleagues.

Whilst our radio system does a great job of connecting members and is a tool to provide instant on the ground communications, it has some limitations as messages can’t be played back for those that aren’t on shift yet and only one member of staff can be using the radio at any one time. This is where our instant messaging chat function becomes really useful!

BBM works very similarly to WhatsApp and comes with many of the same features you are used to with other instant messaging services.

Our messenger service also allows for the sharing of images and we can help get identifications (although please note, there are strict protocols for providing identifications using the service so as to protect the ID process for criminal proceedings. Speak to a member of BCRP staff to find out more about this).

We take data protection and GDPR protocols very seriously and our instant chat messaging service is fully DPA and GDPR complaint. Unlike WhatsApp, it’s also licensed for business use.

We have different chat groups within the app which focus on the relevant areas and are also split up into daytime and night-time economies. We are expanding this current service in January 2022 so if you are interested in getting on board, please let us know.