Staffordshire Police

Safer Nights Live is the latest social media engagement initiative organised by the force and is aimed at showing the behaviour the police deal with every week as part of the Safer Nights operations.

Earlier this year Staffordshire Police gave people an insight into a night ‘Behind Bars’ when members of the community were able to follow the events in the Northern Area Custody Facility (NACF) on a busy Friday night. This event was recently praised by the independent ‘Econsultancy’ agency when it listed the top 11 social media campaigns of 2011.

Tomorrow’s event will be hosted on the Staffordshire Police website and the force’s Facebook site, and local media will have the opportunity to also host the event on their own sites. Some of the updates will be published on the force’s Twitter accounts linked to the hash tag #safernightslive so that people out on the town can feed in comments about their experience.

Ch Supt. Jon Drake, who leads on alcohol-related harm for Staffordshire Police, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for members of our community to get an insight into how we help keep people safe as they enjoy their night out.

“For some the night will end with a visit to a police cell, however the vast majority of people will enjoy their evening partly thanks to the police officers, door staff and other partners who work together to keep people safe.

“At this time of year, the town centre nightlife venues are busy with Christmas parties and celebrations which mean there is a significant increase in the number of people enjoying themselves, many whom will be unfamiliar with what happens in the town centres in the early hours. We have extra officers on foot patrol in town centres across the county to help tackle those who choose to get involved in disorderly behaviour.

“We want people to enjoy their night out and get home safe. It is important they plan their night out - particularly their journey home by pre-booking a taxi or arranging for someone who hasn’t been drinking to pick them up. Also work out where to meet up if you become separated from your friends and look out for each other.”