The NSW Police Force Case Study:

Engaging international students via Social Media

Our Commitment…

“An integrated and responsive strategic

plan and process, that puts student

safety and security at the core and

equips police officers to be proactive,

responsive and effective”.

Our strategic overview

NSWPF is taking International Student safety seriously;

Appointment of corporate spokesperson;

Corporate PLAN and local strategy for International student safety;

Key Initiatives:– WEIBO, Wollongong Uni;

Critical partnerships;

Enhancing the capability of police and international students to work collaboratively and

Reporting, investigation ,analysis and response of incidents involving International Students

Strategy -Overview (cont’d)

• The development and production of consistent safety

messages and tools that reflect the diversity of the student

populations

• The use of multi-media and social media

• Partnerships with key stakeholders:

- Universities, consulates, embassies, student bodies, campus

security, and independent and feeder learning institutions

Why international student safety?

NSW Police Force mandate to:

Increase Public safety;

Reduce crime and the fear of

crime and

Build partnerships

Where are International Students from?

• Diversity of cultures, Ethnicity, Age, Gender and abilities

• From over 150 countries

• 40% of total O/S student population are from India and China

• Make up 20-30% of the student population

45 % University (100,000)

30% Vocational, Education, Training

20% ELICOS and other (English Language Intensive

Course for Overseas Students)

Where do International

Students come to?

• ELICOS (Public and private colleges)

• School sector (fee paying High Schools)

• Vocational education and training (TAFE; private colleges,

hospitality, tourism, trades etc)

• Higher education (Universities, Post graduate providers)

• Post graduate research

• Private education (Private language providers, bridging

programs etc)

• AUSAID and Defence sectors

Why International Student Safety?

• Local incidents become global issues

Google World’s “Fast Facts”

“Attacks on Indian Students” = 6.6 million results (0.15 sec)

“Victorian Police and attacks on Indian students” = 15.1m results (0.15 sec)

“NSW Police and attacks on Indian students” = 3.9 m results (0.26 sec)

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Factors that impact overseasstudents:

First time young people are away from family and friends

Study commitments and late working hours resulting in late night

travel on public transport or walking home

Vulnerability which may lead to exploitation in work or living

arrangements

Living in shared accommodation arrangements often with total

strangers.

The transient nature of their stay in Australia and

Experience of policing from home country.

Corporate plan for InternationalStudents

Corporate plan

Local Plans

Crime response Crime prevention

Community Engagement

• Customer Service Plan

• Community Engagement Plan

• Multicultural services plan

• Crime prevention plan

Community Engagement via social media - a vital tool

NSWPF-social media history

May 2009: Twitter

August 2009: YouTube

May 2010: Facebook

August 2011: Eyewatch pages

February 2012: Corporate Spokesperson’s pages

January 2013: Supt Dengate’s Weibo (10,000 followers) and

Facebook (1,000) international students’ pages

NSWPF- International students’ Facebook and Weibo pages

Launched at the University of NSW in January 2013

WEIBO - a partnership with the Linguistics Department of the Interpreting

and Translating Course – Chinese students of Macquarie University

Page components and posting – weekly themes

Limitations of posting (eg. attachments can posted).

Requirements of the students in translating.

Critical posts and issues (eg. criticisms of police, process for reporting a

crime)

NSWPF intentional students social media pages

Process for dealing with reports of crime

Student to send an email to identified Chinese speaking staff

of NSWPF weibo@police.nsw.gov.au

The crime report is forwarded to the relevant Local Area

Command (LAC) and update on the Weibo MDL

The person who made the crime report is updated on actions

taken by police AND is urged to contact police themselves

(providing relevant links to LAC pages)

Process for translation

A number of students are rostered on every week by the

supervising teacher to provide translations for moderation.

5 – 10 students rostered on a long-term basis to provide

translations.

Students send translations in an editable document (eg. Word)

to weibo@police.nsw.gov.au.

Students are NOT able to post messages without the permission

of the Weibo team.

Challenges

Provision of information within a different cultural context

Limitations in responding to all posts

Cost involved in professional translations can be

prohibitive

Social media is interactive, information can often be dry, it

requires adaptation to this medium

Questions