Case Study | Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, Georgia
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Forsyth County Sheriff's Office
Forsyth County, GA
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO), the third largest law enforcement agency in north Georgia, is renowned for serving over 250,000 residents, aimed to enhance community engagement and provide mobile-based services through a user-friendly mobile app that required no registration for citizens to access.
"MySheriff is enhancing our community engagement and providing mobile-based services through a user-friendly mobile app that requires no registration for citizens to access."
Sheriff Ron Freeman, Forsyth County Sheriff Office
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office utilized five social media platforms to engage with constituents, creating communication challenges
Each individual platform required registration and adherence to terms of use. FCSO acknowledged that this approach limited their ability to communicate with individuals who don't use social media, particularly on mobile devices.
Moreover, FCSO faced the challenge of not being able to send real-time alerts and notifications to their community, even to those who followed them on social media. Additionally, they lacked the capability to push notifications to specific regions within the county - a feature that becomes very handy when alerting about car accidents or any other traffic issues.
Another challenge was posting information about missing persons or run-away teenagers on social media channels, asking for the public’s help. In most cases these individuals are found or return home and removing such information from the social channels or the web after the fact is very difficult or impossible.
In light of these challenges, the Sheriff’s Office recognized the need for a more effective communication strategy that would better serve the needs of the community.
FCSO took steps to improve real-time communication with county residents by using the MySheriff mobile app.
The Sheriff’s Office launched the "MySheriff" mobile- app from ITsimple, which residents can freely download without having to provide any registration details or personal information, such as their name, phone number, or email address. This eliminates the registration barriers that are often encountered on social media platforms.
Citizens who may have been unable to engage with FCSO in the past because they didn’t use social media can now benefit from up-to-date public safety information and resources such as real-time alerts, news, events and access to online services.
Furthermore, FCSO successfully generated a replica of their jurisdictions within the administrative portal responsible for managing the "MySheriff" app. This enhancement enables them to selectively determine which specific jurisdictions will receive the real-time alerts, ensuring targeted and efficient distribution of essential information as needed.
Moreover, the administrative portal utilized to publish real-time notifications and updates to the "MySheriff" app also offers the option to send those same notifications to their social media platforms if they so desire. This ensures a comprehensive and widespread dissemination of information to the community through multiple channels.
Implementing tools to enhance trust between the public and the Sheriff's Office has led to more effective community policing. Meanwhile, the understaffed FCSO team has saved money, and time and significantly increased their productivity by using one unified engagement platform.
Citizens who don’t want to use social media now have a medium in which they can engage with their Sheriff’s Department.
Law enforcement agencies can target communications to the community that is directly affected for incidents such as road closures, law enforcement activity, etc.
FCSO has one unified platform to manage its community engagement efforts.
It is vital to give citizens a communication tool with the Sheriff’s Office that does not raise privacy issues like social media does.
MySheriff mobile-app provides a user-friendly interface designed to also address older residents, with a few big buttons and all the information and services are accessible right from the main screen with no scrolling to do. MySheriff app also responds to voice commands to provide an even quicker access to information and services.
Any size law enforcement agency where community oriented policing is a priority and current tools could be improved in reaching the community and making services and communication more accessible.
Ron Freeman, Forsyth County Sheriff
Problem Addressed
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office utilized five social media platforms to engage with constituents, creating communication challenges
Each individual platform required registration and adherence to terms of use. FCSO acknowledged that this approach limited their ability to communicate with individuals who don't use social media, particularly on mobile devices.
Moreover, FCSO faced the challenge of not being able to send real-time alerts and notifications to their community, even to those who followed them on social media. Additionally, they lacked the capability to push notifications to specific regions within the county - a feature that becomes very handy when alerting about car accidents or any other traffic issues.
Another challenge was posting information about missing persons or run-away teenagers on social media channels, asking for the public’s help. In most cases these individuals are found or return home and removing such information from the social channels or the web after the fact is very difficult or impossible.
In light of these challenges, the Sheriff’s Office recognized the need for a more effective communication strategy that would better serve the needs of the community.
Solutions Used
FCSO took steps to improve real-time communication with county residents by using the MySheriff mobile app.
The Sheriff’s Office launched the "MySheriff" mobile-app from ITsimple, which residents can freely download without having to provide any registration details or personal information, such as their name, phone number, or email address. This eliminates the registration barriers that are often encountered on social media platforms.
Citizens who may have been unable to engage with FCSO in the past because they didn’t use social media can now benefit from up-to-date public safety information and resources such as real-time alerts, news, events and access to online services.
Furthermore, FCSO successfully generated a replica of their jurisdictions within the administrative portal responsible for managing the "MySheriff" app. This enhancement enables them to selectively determine which specific jurisdictions will receive the real-time alerts, ensuring targeted and efficient distribution of essential information as needed.
Moreover, the administrative portal utilized to publish real-time notifications and updates to the "MySheriff" app also offers the option to send those same notifications to their social media platforms if they so desire. This ensures a comprehensive and widespread dissemination of information to the community through multiple channels.
Implementing tools to enhance trust between the public and the Sheriff's Office has led to more effective community policing. Meanwhile, the understaffed FCSO team has saved money, and time and significantly increased their productivity by using one unified engagement platform.
Outcomes
Citizens who don’t want to use social media now have a medium in which they can engage with their Sheriff’s Department.
Law enforcement agencies can target communications to the community that is directly affected for incidents such as road closures, law enforcement activity, etc.
FCSO has one unified platform to manage its community engagement efforts.
Lessons Learned
It is vital to give citizens a communication tool with the Sheriff’s Office that does not raise privacy issues like social media does.
Something Unique
MySheriff mobile-app provides a user-friendly interface designed to also address older residents, with a few big buttons and all the information and services are accessible right from the main screen with no scrolling to do. MySheriff app also responds to voice commands to provide an even quicker access to information and services.
Who should consider
Any size law enforcement agency where community oriented policing is a priority and current tools could be improved in reaching the community and making services and communication more accessible.
Government Project Team
