A Positive Reaction.

When a crime happens to you it forces you to deal with difficult emotions and circumstances. Disbelief and shock initially serve to protect you, slowing down the ingestion of what has become your new reality. As the full consequences begin to dawn, it is natural to feel anger at the injustice of your new predicament. It's important to utilise this passion and transform the event into something positive before fear serves to immobilise and dissociate you. It's too late to change what happened, but you can be better prepared for future possibilities and use your insights to warn others.

The internet has opened up our world, removing many physical restrictions and allowing one person to connect and communicate with the rest of humanity from the comfort of their own living room. This new power can be used for good and bad, and we constantly have to strive to keep up and also protect ourselves from online crime. A good source of information, can be found on BBC Click, a comprehensive guide to all the latest gadgets, websites, games and computer industry news.

Information is now shared openly, the criminals already know, and it's the rest of us that need to get up to speed. We are all part of the problem and the solution. Even criminals do not want other people committing crimes on their doorstep. A wider outlook that encompasses everybody's doorstep is a possibility with the communication available through social media.

Volunteers near Clapham Junction station wait to be allowed to help with the cleanup operation following riots the previous night. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Retreating into escapism, can give temporary shelter to help you on your way through difficult times, but ultimately awareness and clarity are a necessity. We need to get real, and live your life before the rest of the cast dies. To take hold of your life, whatever it is, before time takes it from you. You may have been made a victim, you may have suffered great loss, but others cannot not take away your smile or your will/soul, whatever you choose to call it, that and your reaction are always yours.

Personal circumstances may leave you restricted as to what positive changes you can make outside the home. The potential of social media however is vast. It is fast, effective and free. In response to the London riots, Twitter was used to organise a clean up operation. An excellent example of social media being used as a tool to organise individuals who want to claim back their community and the streets where they live. The instigator of the Twitter cleanup project, Dan Thompson, recently delivered this TEDx talk about placeshaking, a term for individuals inspiring communities and redefining the places where we live.

Before discovering this video, I had been thinking about my own town and how I had never felt particularly attached to it. It is a typical market town with little outward evidence of historical interest. An online search to unearth something interesting about it led to the revelation that there are in fact many interesting things and stories of ordinary citizens, past and present. So many things that I decided to share them on an additional Facebook page.

From revelation to re-evaluation, it has given me a new perspective and dare I say, an ironic and then heartfelt sense of pride, for a commonplace area that was taken for granted. Just as we tend to fantasise about our lives rather than stare harsh reality in the face, we also tend to daydream of being somewhere else rather than truly looking at where we are and engaging with it. It seems to me that reconnecting with our environment can help with an overall solution towards crime. People only want to hear about bad news for so long, and then they are likely to move on. Cultivating interest leads to a natural progression towards enduring worth and caring.

After being burgled recently, my first response was to go on Facebook and inform my friends, to warn them and also to lessen the burden of what had happened through their instant sympathy and understanding. I needed someone to listen and acknowledge the unfairness. I also wanted information and asked the small number of my local friends to share my status, to discover who had come into my family's home whilst we slept and taken what they wanted and then the following night broken into my mother's house. I did discover who the perpetrator was and why they are doing it, and also other people in my area to be aware of, but there is no concrete evidence to convict them. Social media gives you the option to remain anonymous and share sensitive details privately and it is important to note that publishing names online can later lead to civil action if you are mistaken. The purpose of this project is not scaremongering of vigilantism. It's about providing a support system that is there to listen in real time and look out for you, replacing the sense of community that has been lost whilst still retaining the personal space we have become accustomed to.

Although awareness of the local community to the individual committing burglary in my own town has not yet led to a conviction, it has acted as a deterrent. It has also led to the realisation, that a network was required that reaches out across the entire region, and was the catalyst that has formed Social Media Against Crime, a tool that can be used by anyone if and when they need it. It's about small steps, we can all do, you never know what it will lead to. Already I am in talks with the police and crime commissioner for Derbyshire, and Neighborhood Watch to fund awareness of this project to cover the whole of Derbyshire. There is no reason why every county and even country cannot do the same. I will soon be publishing a downloadable leaflet that can be printed and given to nearby residents.

I will end this post with another TEDx video, this time by the amazing Anna, otherwise known as @heardinlondon on Twitter. I hope this inspires you as much as it has me today.

Building your online community.

 

At first it can seem an impossible task to build followers for a new Twitter account or inform Facebook users other than your friends of a new group. It is all a question of time, if you persevere it will happen. Obviously it does depend on content but I believe using social media against crime will prove to be popular with everyone. All you need is the people and businesses in the nearby vicinity to be aware your group exists. If you have friends, relatives or neighbors who are not familiar with social media you could follow or join on their behalf and keep them updated.

The reason for starting this campaign is a recent spate of four burglaries on my street in a week, including my own and a relatives. I live in a typical town and had been blissfully unaware of the crime in my area but this left us vulnerable and unprepared. All neighborhoods experience crime, the idea is not to be alarmist but to be enabled. After being burgled in the middle of the night whilst we slept it became apparent that the main advantage the criminals had was surprise and confidence and the main problem in identifying possible suspects could be a lack of coordination and communication. Knowledge is power, and awareness and preparation are our best defense. I am not happy that all decent residents can do is wait and worry to see who will be next. 

Now I have been made a victim I have been added to a Neighborhood Watch scheme. This is great and I am intending to include this and the local police force with social media against crime. The combination of all three could be a winning formula. However, previous to this incident there is no way I would have thought to be involved voluntarily. Today's society is already time stretched. If you have a young family you are probably already maxed out on meetings, events and fund raising demands. The sense of community people had years ago has been eroded and many of us are averse to coming across as nosy or interfering. We no longer have the luxury of a local bobby who knows everyone. This creates a certain isolation with us all in our own separate boxes, caught up in our own affairs which has created an advantage for criminals. 

Social media can enable people to form a network of eyes and ears working as one in real time for mutual benefit. Participants can choose to go about their usual days remaining largely anonymous and hopefully never need to use the service. Equally, if you are so inclined it could be a way to get to know people nearby, reforming lost communities. It can be whatever you want it to be without obligation. 

I chose to set up a Facebook page to highlight the potential of social media on a international level, connect groups that wish to be linked and to share affordable and simple tips on home security. I have also set up a Twitter account and Facebook group for my local area, as groups notify members by default when there is a new post or alert. Also group members can participate in chats, upload photos to shared albums such as lost and found, missing pets, stolen property or public safety issues (burned out lights, overgrown walkways, abandoned cars, broken windows and so on). In addition to an open setting, groups have more privacy settings. In closed groups, posts are only visible to group members and secret groups could be useful if you live in a high crime area and want to remain anonymous, inviting only people you trust.

After thinking about the various options I think an open group may be the way forward if you are targeting a larger area. It would be easier to include local businesses and schools and spread the net further. It's important to try and include local businesses, especially the service industry workers such as, restaurants, milkmen, taxi firms, corner shops, checkout operators and cleaners. These people are often the last ones going home at night or starting early in the morning and can be your best eyes and ears. Inform local newspapers that you have started an online community for your area. Publicising you are a member of a social media against crime group could act as a deterrent against becoming a target of crime. I want potential burglars to know that the residents of my street can report their activity in an instant.  

A note to all - when posting alerts to your group or Twitter be mindful about posting information that feeds details on your short comings in personal security. This is the very thing criminals use to help them identify weaknesses:

1. Share crime incident descriptions and descriptions of perpetrators. Give the street name but not the address.

2. Private message nearby neighbors if you want to inform them you are going away so they can be extra vigilant. Think about posting holiday news or days out onto social network sites after you have returned.

3. Check out your current Facebook privacy settings. If they are open or you do not personally know all your Facebook friends consider turning off your location settings on your posts and photos. Be extra careful when using social networks such as Foursquare.

 We will be designing a window sticker that can be downloaded and a leaflet so that you can inform your neighbors if you start a group. Also posters for supermarket notice boards and local businesses to display. There is strength in numbers and I believe the more people involved the better the results. The whole point is that it is simple, quick and free. This is a brand new venture and we are open to ideas to make it a effective tool against crime. Please leave your comments and share any ideas with us. Whether you are living in a busy city or rural community we can make this work.