THUNDER BAY – Crimebeat – Progressive policing means engaging with the public on an increased basis. The City of Edmonton has faced issues over the past years with relations between police and the public. The Edmonton Police Service has stepped up and started engaging with the public on an increased rate.
The results are very positive. The EPS is continuing with their public engagement. Last April, the EPS hosted its first ever online town hall meeting, answering over 80 questions on a range of topics including traffic concerns, general EPS procedures, legal questions and concerns regarding specific problems within the city. Each question was then researched and answered by the subject matter experts.
This year, the online town hall will run from: Monday, Apr. 16 to Thursday, Apr. 19, 2012 from 9AM until 3PM with the final answers posted on Friday, April 20 at 9:00AM.
The entire process is a part of a city-wide effort to connect online with residents. Edmonton has created www.connect2edmonton.ca.
Citizens are encouraged to post their questions; responses will be posted the following morning.
“As a new and innovative way to get feedback from the community, the online town hall meets the EPS’s goal of looking for additional ways to connect with the community and engage a more diverse population. We look forward to reaching out to Edmontonians using these technologies on an ongoing basis”.
While you might suspect that these kinds of forums might generate negative questions, or call down the police, the reality is that based on a tour of the site, there are no such examples of that kind of behaviour. Instead there are citizens asking questions. Many likely will be things that they don’t know about, and many are suggestions that the Edmonton Police Service would like to engage with the public.