South Africa’s Port Elizabeth police have launched an innovative product to keep communication going between them and the public. The service has been initially launched at Humewood Police Station in the City.
The SMS solution provided by Vox Telecom will ensure that service provision for the city residence is improved.
“A number of police stations in the Eastern Cape have been making use of a Vox Telecom SMS service for some time now, mainly for internal communications purposes,” says Andre Joubert of Vox Telecom.
“Humewood wanted to use the service as a two-way communication tool between the police and victims of crime or members of community in general.”
“If a victim, for example, is told that his or her case has been closed, they can respond back with a SMS message to object. Or, if a victim of a crime remembers more details or even spots the suspect, he can respond back with a SMS to the police station with the latest information,” Joubert explained.
“The SMS is not only immediately routed to a dedicated resource and appropriate investigating officer, detailed reports are also sent to the Brigadier who can review communications and detect problems with the resolution of cases or poor service. That way, the public knows that their case is being given full attention.”
In Kenya, Chief Kariuki is well known for using tweets in communicating with the society.