Case Study | Greene County Sheriff's Office, Georgia
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Greene County Sheriff's Office
Greene County Sheriff's Office, GA
Greene County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) provides essential public safety services but found its existing communication methods weren’t reaching the community. GCSO adopted a community engagement tool that expanded communication beyond social media and enabled sending direct public safety notifications to residents.
“Our goal is to get information out to the community as quickly as possible. After some ideas being exchanged, we decided to move forward with the MySheriff app. People love the app. They love getting the notifications that are real time.”
Sheriff Donnie Harrison, Greene County Sheriff's Office
Greene County Sheriff's Office needed a direct way to engage with residents to increase public safety and citizen satisfaction.
Greene County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) remains faithful to the legacy of its legendary Sheriff L.L. Wyatt. Sheriff Wyatt, also known as “Mr. Sheriff”, was the epitome of a community oriented police officer long before such an idea was born and served as an example for every officer to follow.
GCSO realized that in the 21st century, in order to live up to this standard, they must find the right modern tools to reach their citizens. The sheriff’s office regularly enlists the help of the public with finding both wanted criminals and missing persons. The office also needs to reach citizens to communicate announcements about accidents, road maintenance reports, and invitations to public events.
GCSO most frequently used Facebook to communicate this information to the community. However, GCSO found that these social media posts suffered from a low exposure rate and weren’t helping the office engage with the public as hoped. Many Greene County citizens didn’t use Facebook, and the ones who did sometimes prefer not to use this media to communicate with their Sheriff’s office for privacy reasons.
The sheriff’s website also communicated information and services available to the community but the website wasn’t optimized for community engagement. In order to file a record request, citizens would need to either search through endless menus or physically walk into the Sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office also relied on the IT department to post website updates on its behalf, which meant communications about incidents that occurred outside the IT department’s operating hours (e.g. nights, weekends, holidays) were restricted to Facebook where notifications only reached a limited subset of the community.
GCSO needed a community engagement solution that could be operated by the officers, Sheriff, and Deputies at any time and from any place. They wanted their citizens to be able to receive push notifications when needed. They needed their citizens to be able to post anonymous tips to help fight crime. And they needed a safe place to post announcements while controlling the narrative of conversation, unlike social media.
GCSO implemented a community engagement app that allows the office to engage directly with residents and promote community-oriented policing.
Residents can download the “MySheriff” app from ITsimple for free with no form of registration. Rather than call the sheriff’s office or walk in, the new system offers residents a direct link to the sheriff’s office where they can post anonymous crime tips and receive push notifications about critical public safety events. Residents who may have been unable to engage with GCSO in the past because they didn’t use social media can now benefit from up-to-date public safety information and resources.
The new system enabled the sheriff’s office to have greater autonomy over its communication and engagement with residents. Instead of relying on the IT department to post updates on its behalf, Green County Sheriff’s Office has access to an administrative portal, from which even non-technical staff can control the app, website, and social media. Real-time notifications and updates can be sent to all three mediums at any time, even during nights, weekends, and holidays. Additionally, the app allows the sheriff’s office to post announcements while controlling the narrative of the conversation, unlike on social media platforms.
A new website has also made it easier for the department to reach residents who may use a traditional computer rather than a smartphone. Unlike when users had to search through endless menus to find what they needed, the new website is user-friendly, well-designed, and makes Sheriff services and forms easy to find and access. Additionally, changes made on the app are automatically updated on the website, so the sheriff’s team can keep visitors up to date on new events or notifications without doubling efforts.
An easy and effective way to reach the public with critical public safety information and services.
More qualified crime tips submitted by residents who can report anonymously.
The Sheriff's team can send real-time alerts to the public any time with no need for IT assistance.
Significant reduction in walk-ins to the Sheriff's office, freeing up time for the Sheriff’s team to allocate to other tasks.
GCSO has one unified platform to manage its community engagement efforts.
Understaffed teams can save money, and time and significantly increase their productivity by using one unified engagement platform.
Use of new technology to reach a greater audience can result in an increase in productivity across the unit.
Implementing tools to enhance trust between the public and the Sheriff’s Office can lead to more effective community policing.
It is vital to give citizens a communication tool with the Sheriff’s Office that does not raise privacy issues like social media does.
Greene County residents embraced technology that made them feel more secure when engaging with their local sheriff’s office.
Any size police or sheriff's department practicing community policing and looking to have the public be part of the solution by improving resident communications and engagement.
Problem Addressed
Greene County Sheriff's Office needed a direct way to engage with residents to increase public safety and citizen satisfaction.
Greene County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) remains faithful to the legacy of its legendary Sheriff L.L. Wyatt. Sheriff Wyatt, also known as “Mr. Sheriff”, was the epitome of a community oriented police officer long before such an idea was born and served as an example for every officer to follow.
GCSO realized that in the 21st century, in order to live up to this standard, they must find the right modern tools to reach their citizens. The sheriff’s office regularly enlists the help of the public with finding both wanted criminals and missing persons. The office also needs to reach citizens to communicate announcements about accidents, road maintenance reports, and invitations to public events.
GCSO most frequently used Facebook to communicate this information to the community. However, GCSO found that these social media posts suffered from a low exposure rate and weren’t helping the office engage with the public as hoped. Many Greene County citizens didn’t use Facebook, and the ones who did sometimes prefer not to use this media to communicate with their Sheriff’s office for privacy reasons.
The sheriff’s website also communicated information and services available to the community but the website wasn’t optimized for community engagement. In order to file a record request, citizens would need to either search through endless menus or physically walk into the Sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office also relied on the IT department to post website updates on its behalf, which meant communications about incidents that occurred outside the IT department’s operating hours (e.g. nights, weekends, holidays) were restricted to Facebook where notifications only reached a limited subset of the community.
GCSO needed a community engagement solution that could be operated by the officers, Sheriff, and Deputies at any time and from any place. They wanted their citizens to be able to receive push notifications when needed. They needed their citizens to be able to post anonymous tips to help fight crime. And they needed a safe place to post announcements while controlling the narrative of conversation, unlike social media.
Solutions Used
GCSO implemented a community engagement app that allows the office to engage directly with residents and promote community-oriented policing.
Residents can download the “MySheriff” app from ITsimple for free with no form of registration. Rather than call the sheriff’s office or walk in, the new system offers residents a direct link to the sheriff’s office where they can post anonymous crime tips and receive push notifications about critical public safety events. Residents who may have been unable to engage with GCSO in the past because they didn’t use social media can now benefit from up-to-date public safety information and resources.
The new system enabled the sheriff’s office to have greater autonomy over its communication and engagement with residents. Instead of relying on the IT department to post updates on its behalf, Green County Sheriff’s Office has access to an administrative portal, from which even non-technical staff can control the app, website, and social media. Real-time notifications and updates can be sent to all three mediums at any time, even during nights, weekends, and holidays. Additionally, the app allows the sheriff’s office to post announcements while controlling the narrative of the conversation, unlike on social media platforms.
A new website has also made it easier for the department to reach residents who may use a traditional computer rather than a smartphone. Unlike when users had to search through endless menus to find what they needed, the new website is user-friendly, well-designed, and makes Sheriff services and forms easy to find and access. Additionally, changes made on the app are automatically updated on the website, so the sheriff’s team can keep visitors up to date on new events or notifications without doubling efforts.
Outcomes
An easy and effective way to reach the public with critical public safety information and services.
More qualified crime tips submitted by residents who can report anonymously.
The Sheriff's team can send real-time alerts to the public any time with no need for IT assistance.
Significant reduction in walk-ins to the Sheriff's office, freeing up time for the Sheriff’s team to allocate to other tasks.
GCSO has one unified platform to manage its community engagement efforts.
Lessons Learned
Understaffed teams can save money, and time and significantly increase their productivity by using one unified engagement platform.
Use of new technology to reach a greater audience can result in an increase in productivity across the unit.
Implementing tools to enhance trust between the public and the Sheriff’s Office can lead to more effective community policing.
It is vital to give citizens a communication tool with the Sheriff’s Office that does not raise privacy issues like social media does.
Greene County residents embraced technology that made them feel more secure when engaging with their local sheriff’s office.
Something Unique
Any size police or sheriff's department practicing community policing and looking to have the public be part of the solution by improving resident communications and engagement.
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