By Pepper Parr
April 8, 2016
BURLINGTON,ON
It was to be the Chief’s fifteen minutes of fame – all he got was 13 minutes and a bit – and it was a bumpy ride.
The media Officer for the Regional Police Chantal Connor had sent out a media release that read as if we were going to get to see the chief talk to an audience that was out there in the on the world wide web.
The media release wasn’t all that clear – which resulted in two confused reporters arriving at police headquarters expecting to see the chief in front of a camera – but we didn’t get to see the chief in front of a camera.
The two reporters were sitting in the lobby watching the chief chatting away on a cell phone. We looked at each other and wondered – aren’t we supposed to be up there watching this all happen?
Apparently not.
This newest communications gadget is known as Periscope which you access via your twitter account.
What exactly then it Periscope?
It is a live video streaming app for iOS and Android.
Twitter lets you read about something that is going on in real time – Periscope lets you see what is going on in real time.
This afternoon the chief sat down with a cup of coffee in hand and talked to whoever was tuned in. People “tune in” via their tweet account.
The Regional police are still trying to get a tight grip on the technology which could prove to be a very useful tool with all kinds of communication potential.
Care to put a number on that potential?
Periscope was acquired January 2015 by Twitter before the product had been publicly launched. One investor source says the acquisition amount was “sizeable”, above $50 million. Another says it fell between $75 and $100 million.
Once the technology types at police headquarters has a deeper understanding of what can and can’t be done with Periscope Sgt Chantal Connor said there would be officers in each detachment with experience using the app.
It could become a very powerful tool – police could not only tweet those 140 characters but use Periscope to send a live video feed.
Stay tuned for this on.
We accepted Sgt Connor’s apology for the communications screw up.
Final note – the Chief should wear a white dress shirt when he goes on camera.
Check out the show for yourself – scroll down to get the part with the Chief.
https://twitter.com/search?q=halton%20police&src=tyah