Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership debuts Bonfire Night tweetathon to launch new twitter feed

Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership (RSCP) took to Twitter this week to provide communities with reassurance that partners were working together to make sure Bonfire Night passed without a ‘bang’.

The Partnership launched the @saferrochdale twitter feed and tweeted live from the streets all evening showcasing the work of frontline officers from Rochdale Borough Council, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service (GMFRS). Followers were able to get real time updates on police patrols, environmental enforcement investigations and fire service call outs.

Linda Fisher, Deputy Chief Executive at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Of course we want our communities to celebrate Bonfire Night, but to be safe and responsible. We know it can be an unsettling time for many people across our borough.

“We launched our new @saferrochdale twitter feed to coincide with our Treacle campaign. We thought it was a great opportunity to provide vital reassurance messages to our communities.”

As part of the live tweetathon, 6pm-10:30pm, followers received updates on some fly-tipping from which the council was able to gather evidence of a potential perpetrator now being investigated. Dashed with Rochdale’s firefighters to put out a wheelie bin fire and taken on patrol with GMP Rochdale East division to target antisocial behaviour and nuisance.

Police and the fire service have both reported that it was a fairly quiet evening which is bound to be some comfort to communities. In fact the fire service announced on twitter it was the quietest Bonfire Night they’d experienced in the past 5 years.

Cllr Iftikar Ahmed, assistant to the cabinet member for Strengthening Communities, added: “Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership works on the premise that more can be achieved by working together. Its teams work very hard at the front line and behind the scenes targeting crime, disorder, antisocial behaviour to make Rochdale safer.

“@saferrochdale is a welcomed communications channel. I hope our residents find it useful.”

Annette Anderson, Chief Superintendent at Rochdale Division, added: “We’re still building up our following and want as many people as possible to follow us. We’ll be tweeting regularly now.

“Twitter will bring us closer to our customers. It will enable us to engage with them in conversations and it allows us to share lots of safety advice in a format that is becoming increasingly popular.

“It helps to build confidence when our communities can see that we’re out and about focussed on keeping people safe.”