Facebook Twitter Gplus Pinterest LinkedIn E-mail RSS

  

Facebook Twitter Gplus Pinterest LinkedIn E-mail RSS
russwebt - A finally festive Friday: Planking post-Eric Sykes http://t.co/NsCw2Ltu #FinallyFriday 1 hour ago

ET phone home: Smartphones and crime prevention

Published on 27 February 2012 by in Social Media Innovation
Image Courtesy purplelime http://www.flickr.com/photos/purplelime

  One of the downsides about any form of new technology is that it is inevitably expensive and attractive to thieves. Over the years, burglars have focused on Video Recorders, DVD players and, now, Flatscreen TVs. Car thieves have moved from car radios via CD players on to SatNavs, although even those are no longer of sufficient value to interest most opportunists. In the same way, the advent of mobile phones has been responsible for a sharp increase in the number of muggings, mainly with young people as both perpetrators and victims. This particular crimewave has been revitalised over the last couple of years by the launch of expensive smartphones such as the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy etc. These, along with Tablet computers, retain very high re-sale value and are therefore very robber-friendly. What got me thinking about this was a helpful conversation

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

Payment by results: Calling in the auditors

Published on 16 April 2012 by in Payment by Results
Audit Commission logo

The recent publication of the Audit Commission report: “Local payment by results” is a key landmark in the development of PbR for the commissioning of public services in the UK. The great thing about the Audit Commission is that their focus on hard facts and real-life performance combined with their total independence means that whenever they bring their focus to bear on an aspect of public life, they are worth listening to. There have been a number of landmark reports over the years which have focused attention on the core performance of public services – I have found the ones on youth crime and drug treatment particularly helpful, for identifying shortcomings in the overall approach. For me, the timing of this report could not be better. Starting next month, I am going to be running a series of video interviews

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
1 Comment  comments 

Don’t forget to cancel your milk, papers and Facebook updates

Published on 13 April 2012 by in Social Media Innovation
social and safe

New technologies present new opportunities for law enforcement agencies to catch and prosecute criminals – from Smartphones that can report themselves stolen to the increasingly sophisticated police use of social media for gathering intelligence, investigating crimes and establishing evidence. Of course, the same technologies present new opportunities for criminals too and the balance of power has shifted many times since the invention of fingerprints right up to DNA profiling and now, it would seem, the potential interception of all online communications. Last year there was a well-publicised survey of 50 UK  burglars by a security firm which revealed that they made extensive use of social media and the Internet to target victims. They claimed to target homes where Facebook posts revealed that the homeowners were on holiday. They also claimed to make effective use of Google StreetView to undertake reconnaissance

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

How to be a good Tweeter

Published on 11 April 2012 by in Probation Wednesday
the-artist

What makes a good Tweet? There’s no single answer to this question of course. A good Tweet is like a good book or a good film – different people like different ones. Nevertheless, The Artist is considered by most people to be superior to Wrath of the Titans 3D. Most people find that the experience of reading Great Expectations enriches them more than First Among Equals. In the same way, there is an emerging consensus about what makes a good Tweet and, more importantly, a good Tweeter. The evidence It’s a sure sign that social media has entered the mainstream when it becomes the subject of “proper” research. Three researchers recently designed a site called Who gives a Tweet? which they used to get almost 1500 people to rate over 40,000 from over 20,000 Twitter accounts. You can find a full account

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
1 Comment  comments 

Raising your profile: Probation Wednesday (3)

Published on 4 April 2012 by in Probation Wednesday
resumes crumpled

Your Twitter profile is perhaps the single most important component of your tweeting presence. Your Twitter name helps identify you. Your profile picture establishes your individuality and helps you stand out in the timeline. Your profile tells people why you are on Twitter and gives the biggest clue as to whether you are worth following. It also determines whether you will show up in search results. So what should you put in it? One hundred and sixty Twitter knows your profile is important and allows you 160 characters, an extra 20 on top of the traditional 140, to get it right. Whenever someone follow me on Twitter, I look at their profile to see if I should follow them back. My default position is always to follow someone back unless they are a business looking to sell me something (or

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
1 Comment  comments 

Online surveys are the key to better drug treatment services

Published on 2 April 2012 by in Digital Engagement, Offender/Drug user health
drug-mephedrone

I’m just embarking on a new substance misuse needs assessment. Drug needs assessments are the single most important component in getting local drug treatment systems right. You can’t design a treatment system to meet local needs unless you’re sure what those needs are. When I do a needs assessment, I use a fairly straightforward approach which triangulates findings from three main sources: Data systems Drug workers and other professionals Drug users By far the most important source of information are drug users themselves. Patterns and trends of drug use, prices and availability all change rapidly, all the time. It takes time to plan or change a drug treatment system so it’s important that the information in the needs assessment is as up-to-date as possible. Drug treatment data systems provide good information on the drugs used by  people who have developed

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
1 Comment  comments 

A picture’s worth a thousand tweets

Published on 28 March 2012 by in Probation Wednesday
twitter profile pics

Welcome to the second in my series of posts helping probation trusts (and other organisations) get the most out of Twitter. Last week I discussed choosing your Twitter name, this week focuses on choosing your Twitter profile picture. Again, you might think this is not worth spending much time on. But when anyone is scrolling through a Twitter timeline of hundreds of Tweets, you want people looking for your tweets to be able to find them easily. The simplest way to make your Twitter account stand out is with a distinctive individual image. No Eggs please, we’re British Which brings me to my first rule. No eggs. I know it’s Easter, but no eggs on Twitter. What’s an egg? This is a Twitter egg, available in a range of colours: The best Twitter accounts, the ones that attract the most

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
1 Comment  comments 

Probation Wednesday #1: A rose by any other name…

Published on 21 March 2012 by in Probation Wednesday
tweetstreet[7]

Welcome to the first in a series of short posts about how probation trusts can make the most out of Twitter. I’ve been running training days for Probation Trusts on a strategic approach to social media for a few months now and thought it would be useful to share some practice tips in a short post once a week. There are now over a hundred individuals tweeting professionally as representatives of 19 probation trusts and the probation presence on Twitter has grown substantially over the last six months. I decided on a weekly series since even busy probation staff can find 5 minutes free once per week. It was then just a matter of choosing a day of the week. I didn’t want to clash with #FollowFriday and even though: “Wednesday’s child is full of woe” I opted for the middle of

Read the full post here

 
Tags: ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
1 Comment  comments 

Drug Treatment 2.0

Published on 20 March 2012 by in Digital Engagement, Offender/Drug user health
Pill-People-Slider-660x295

This post is a celebration of  the increasing range and variety of online resources developed by the drug treatment world. It’s great to report that all sectors of the field are bringing their tradition of creativity to the world of web 2.0 Harm reductionists have eagerly embraced the opportunities to engage with drug users which the World Wide Web and social media bring. These are just a few of the many high quality harm reductions resources now available online: Regular readers will be well aware of the new smartphone app developed by @UTurnTraining to help prevent opiate overdoses. The app is being widely used and the iPhone and iPad versions are in beta testing as we speak. @GlobalDrugSurvy have harnessed the power of the net to undertake a worldwide survey of recreational drug use. The survey gives individuals feedback about

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
5 Comments  comments 

Arrested development: Why individual PbR will not work

Published on 14 March 2012 by in Payment by Results
Police pay

Saturday’s newspapers sent shockwaves through all ranks of police officers who are waiting for Tom Winsor’s review of pay and conditions to be published. The Telegraph announced: “Police could be given performance-related pay for first time” While the Star went with: “Cops collar cash” It’s not sure how much credence we should give to these reports, but the Telegraph and Star do make substantially similar claims: “cash incentives for high-performing police officers who can successfully fight crime” “police are set to pocket bonuses for the number of arrests they make”. We should know for certain soon since the Winsor report is scheduled for publication tomorrow morning. I’m feeling slightly guilty about the whole situation since I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago in which I idly speculated that it would be theoretically possible to pay probation officers on

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
3 Comments  comments 

PbR needs emergency measures

Published on 12 March 2012 by in Payment by Results
Defib

One of the key arguments in favour of a payment by results approach to commissioning is that the focus on outcomes allows for flexibility and innovation and radical change in how we approach such entrenched social problems as crime and drug misuse. At the moment, the various PbR pilot schemes are more about consolidating and expanding on best practice, rather than trying new approaches. The focus on outcomes  is great for driving commitment and quality, but the prospect of not being paid can tend to discourage rather than promote the risk-taking that is inherent in trying out new ways of working. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. I was inspired by reading a case study in SuperFreakonomics about the way Craig Feied (pronoucnced “FEE-ed”), an Emergency Room Doctor and computer nerd, turned Washington’s  worst performing ER into its

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

PbR Freakonomics or Prison-Probation Collaboretition

Published on 6 March 2012 by in Payment by Results
Freakonomics

The authors of Freakonomics keep me consistently entertained with their books and Blog posts about the way people, in all walks of life, respond to incentives – commonly in unpredictable ways, frequently with unintended consequences. Their latest book, SuperFreakonomics, covers everything from why drunk walking is more dangerous than drunk driving to why suicide bombers should buy life insurance and I recommend it unreservedly for an entertaining, and thought-provoking read. I’m particularly drawn to these books because one of the abiding fascinations of my work is the challenge of disentangling and understanding complex systems which often result in perverse and unintended consequences. My specialism is in the construction and evaluation of multi-agency partnerships designed to tackle drugs and/or crime problems. Frequently I find that small scale successful pilot schemes fail when they are replicated on a larger basis. This typically

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
2 Comments  comments 

It’s possible to take payment by results too far

Published on 2 March 2012 by in Payment by Results
scorecard

Sir Suma Chakrabarti, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, wrote an interesting essay for @Reformthinktank’s new publication, the Next Ten Years, on targets and transparency. An edited version appeared in Tuesday’s Guardian. He traces the development of the target culture under the last Labour administration and how it led to Public Service Agreements before going on to discuss the “new religion” of transparency. Sir Suma summarises that the principle behind transparency is simple – put the data out there and let the public ask difficult questions, forcing public service managers to improve their performance. He is particularly interested in using data on the performance of different courts to put under-performers under the spotlight. Interestingly, he announces that later this year the MoJ will link justice outcomes to the reported crime maps on the police.uk website. He touches on

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

Why the Drugs Intervention Programme is no longer fit for purpose

Published on 23 February 2012 by in Offender/Drug user health
10_Downing_Street_door-for-

The Drugs Intervention Programme (DIP) which seeks to engage drug using offenders into treatment at every point of the criminal justice system is due for a shakeup this April – and about time too. The DIP was introduced in 2003 with the purpose of identifying drug users in police stations in courts and prisons, get them into drug treatment and provide them with a case management service through the arrest-charge-court-prison-release process. The DIP was heavily resourced to the tune of approximately £150million per year and had a very positive impact in two main ways: It succeeded in identifying large numbers of drug using offenders who had never been in contact with treatment services. It stimulated a substantial expansion in quick access services – typically those prescribing methadone as a heroin substitute. Commissioners quickly realised that they would lose the opportunity to

Read the full post here

 
Tags: , ,
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
1 Comment  comments 
© Russell Webster 2011/12