@SirIanBlair: Why I tweet (WIT#4)

@sirianblair is a retired police officer who has used his anonymous, spoof Twitter account to great effect in galvanising protests against the proposed police reforms.

 
Tweets by @SirIanBlair

Why I tweet

People have often wondered what is behind this spoof @SirIanBlair account followed by 2500+ people, including ACPO ranking officers, senior Federation Representatives, police officers and members of the public.

The real Sir Ian Blair has a special place in my career. I think he really meant well, yet he suffered a lack of loyalty.  He was a funny, loveable and sometimes moody. And so the spoof account was born; to raise relevant policing issues with a sense of humour. I could never have dreamed of the success of the parody account. Sir Hugh Orde and KeithVaz have been caught joking about just who is behind the spoof.

There is absolutely no malice in the creation of this pseudonym. One of my ideas with the account was to create the 44^th Force, an imaginary Force which asks questions, provides answers and strikes challenges in policing. I came up with the term; the #slapslapconstabulary. We developed our own badges, a badge of honour; and the #slapslap badge. And the term #slapslap is not intended to be sinister.

Most will recall the Tango ads from years ago; the orange tango man arrives from nowhere, unseen, conducts a massive slap, before making off. #slapslap really is a wakeup call for those people doing things that they should not really be doing, you know, inefficiencies, bad practices, etc. it is a funny way of making a point.

This whole approach is necessary because there is relentless, completely inaccurate coverage in the mainstream media, led by the Daily Mail, on the need for cuts, denying the impact on the communities we police.

The best and worst things about tweeting

Apart from occasional attacks by trolls, the only downside of a spoof account is that some very senior people refuse to engage with it on the grounds that I have taken on the name of Sir Ian Blair. That excuse is absolute codswallop. The fact is these people frankly are unable to answer the questions I am raising.

 What I (and my organisation) get out of tweeting

Even though I am retired, I am still proud to represent the police.

One of the earliest successes we had within the social media arena was the creation of the tag #noconfidenceintheresamay. Like so many things on Twitter, the tag came from a collaboration with a happy bunch of friends, in this case as a result of a conversation between myself, a serving officer, and an officer’s wife.

I have always wanted to see a Royal Commission looking into policing to protect policing from all governments.  Labour created an unmanageable and over grown police organisation full of bureaucracy and hurdles. And now this coalition is intent on undermining police terms and conditions of service. I am still waiting for Labour’s ideas on police reforms.

Thanks to @mrsruralsgt who developed a facebook page #noconfidenceintheresamay which now has over 5500 followers.  The intense feelings of front line officers was well documented in our coverage of the riots.  The page contains first hand experiences of officers. It really is like a big family on this page.

I have also written guest blogs for @tscholesfogg and @thecustodysgt, which have been well received and broadcast our message further. As things developed @cynicalbobby and a few others began to develop the concept of the #antiwinsornetwork tag and encouraged many front line staff to join twitter in order to protest against the unfair cuts.  Our tags have trended many times helping us get our message out that British Policing has no confidence in the government.  And this is the first time front line officers have used social media to protest and I am proud to have been a part of that. We have succeeded in gaining the public’s support.

 Tips and successes

It is appropriate to mention one serving officer; James Patrick (@j_amesP). His youtube clip of the “Last Call to Attention” was circulated widely via the facebook page and blog.

11,000 views. Phenomenal.

 

But probably the greatest success thus far was for me was The Chiefs Brief Part 1, a brief I put out on the #antiwinsornetwork blog just prior to the May 10^th protest in London. On May 3^rd this blog attracted a record 8273 post views. And 20,216 views to date for this one blog. This brief hit policing and parade rooms; had a fantastic impact on morale and worked to raise the profile of the protest. Never has a blog post been received this way in police stations.

Another post was published as a #slapslap to Theresa May and encompassed The Federation Chair’s spontaneity in relation to the “hands up” issue at conference. This post too was massively popular – and social media allowed us to publicise the issues at the right moment – when the conference was getting national media coverage.

Mistakes and failures

Social media is a funny world. I will never support any corporate police use of social media that extends only to Public Relations . PR has a legitimate role, but the part played by Corporate Twitter Accounts is constructed, often false, and tells only part of the story. To me, these accounts don’t engage with the public, although the NPIA begs to differ.

The real value of police social media is the opportunity to engage with the public. There is no need for every police officer or department to tweet. Most engagement is done face to face, on the streets and in neighbourhoods. I know full well that only true transparency leads to real engagement.

I see no failures. I feel the #slapslapconstabulary #noconfidenceintheresamay and #antiwinsornetowork tags have had impact far beyond the reach of corporate Twitter accounts. They are engaging, asking questions, raising awareness and protesting in real time. This unofficial circle of friends have set the police social media scene alight.

The public and media are watching very closely. And we have shown we are intelligent, we are not illiterate people Mr Winsor; we are honest people who care about our police. The power and success of the #antiwinsornetwork should not be underestimated. I cannot thank each person enough, but the organisers of this group have tasted success.

Now, let’s see whether Keith Vaz calls relevant people to the Home Affairs Select Committee to answer questions on policing, reform, management and leadership.

The people he should call like Nick Herbert, Blair Gibbs and a few police leaders should be given a hard time.

Some even should be sacked.

 

Next week: Steve Dyson, @SalfordCpayback writes about how he uses photos in his Twitter account to promote the work Salford offenders do on Community Payback schemes.

 

Get Russell’s free guide to Twitterfectiveness.