Communications and Media

Although as part of my role at South Wales Police I work within the Marketing and Campaigns team within our Communications department, my role is also part of our Positive Action team.

The aim of my role is to help to attract and recruit candidates into the force in a variety of different roles through the use of different communication strategies. My work also has a specific focus on recruiting and supporting Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (B.A.M.E) candidate in order to represent the communities we serve.

This can done through attending engagement events, running social media recruitment campaigns, working on projects with children from some of our more diverse areas. I also help with internal communications regarding development and promotion opportunities that we offer as a force to help support B.A.M.E colleagues. I oversea all recruitment communications myself, working closely with our HR recruitment team and the Positive Action team.

I love that I get to engage with a variety of people through social media and through attending events out within the community. I want to ensure that these people who are consider joining us are given all the support they need and all the information to support their career within SWP.

I like to feel like I am giving people a positive experience of policing (even though I am just a staff member), I have an opportunity in my role to make people view the police in a different light to how they may have previously whether that is in regards to race, gender or just experiences in general.

Getting to meet people at these engagement events to then be taking pictures of them at their passing out or graduation ceremonies is such a privilege and makes me feel really proud.

I began my journey at South Wales Police as a 'People Services Communications Intern' after having graduated and being really confused about what I wanted to do next. I was working within the HR recruitment team and quickly picked up a lot about recruitment working there although my roles was communications.

I would help the team with recruitment as I didn't always have the ability to do communications on a larger scale when within the role. I then started to engage with the wider communications team within the force and when a role came up within the department for a role that was perfect for me considering the experience I had gained working within HR, I was encouraged by all my colleagues to apply.

I am most proud of two things since joining the force:

Firstly, when I was coming towards the end of my internship I was extremely nervous to apply for other roles within the force. I lacked a lot of confidence in my abilities. I had never thought I would have been able to go from an intern to the scale I am at with my current role within just under a year. This is something I am really proud of and since then my confidence has grown and grown.

Secondly, I am most proud of the work I did with the SPARK project. The SPARK project was ran by our Black Police Association and worked with a group of students from Cardiff West High School to help build better relationships with the Police and break down barriers.

The project is something I was involved in to take videos and photos of the sessions we ran and then create something for the students to look back at and to share on our social media channels. Working with the children each week and seeing students who disliked the police and struggled to engage with school become excited to see us every week, coming into school for our sessions, really enjoy seeing and speaking to us made me feel really proud of not only the work we had done but of the students as well.

As social media officer, I work closely with the other members of our media and communications team. Creating content around media releases and campaigns within the force. I also manage our force and district accounts, flagging representational risk and putting out fires along the way! I answer questions from the public that come through social channels and engage with the public on behalf of Sussex Police.

I love creating content that the public engage with! Policing gets an extremely negative reaction through social media, so any chance to share a positive difference or help drive positive results is really important to me.

Before being in the police, I managed my own social media channels. I then joined as a Criminal Investigation Department Support Assistant where I really gained an insight into policing. From there I decided I wanted to combine my love for operational policing and social media and joined the team as a Social Media Officer!

Recent work on the Operation Limit campaign made me super proud! We managed to work really closely with the strat comms team to create some super creative posts that outperformed last years content by a mile. As a member of Gen Z, I was really able to give in a fresh insight to the team, and help deliver a successful external campaign to the public.

I am part of a small team of omnicompetent digital producers within the Corporate Communications department at Surrey Police. Our primary responsibility involves interpreting creative briefs to generate a diverse array of products, encompassing videos, photography, graphic design and more. In my role as Video Lead, I manage substantial and high-profile video projects and campaigns.

Additionally, I oversee our livestreaming capabilities, which are executed from our dedicated studio at headquarters. We consult on all things creative, including brand look and feel, best practices, and helping our departmental colleagues improve their creative skills. I say that '90 per cent of being a creative is problem solving'. As such, my role often involves addressing challenges and finding innovative solutions to ensure the success of our projects.

We are not in the business of repeating ourselves. We recognise that each project demands a distinct and tailored approach. Therefore, the work is varied and creatively fulfilling. Secondly, I know it's a cliché, but I find genuine satisfaction in knowing that my role contributes to making a positive impact on others.

I studied Media Production at university and subsequently gained experience in various creative roles across different industries. When I stumbled upon the job advertisement, it seemed tailor-made for my skill set and interests. With a professional background in healthcare, the notion of making a positive impact on individuals, albeit in a different capacity, resonated with me, prompting my application. I joined the force nearly four years ago, right at the start of the pandemic, and haven't looked back since.

A few years ago I produced a video campaign addressing child exploitation which performed exceptionally well. It gained widespread recognition and adoption by other law enforcement agencies, organisations, and numerous schools. It was incorporated into the national package for Op Makesafe, and was the first thing I'd created myself to be showcased in a cinema. A close second in terms of significance was my involvement in Operation London Bridge, which was a profound honour and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After completing my degree and subsequent diploma in journalism (with NCTJ), I joined Devon and Cornwall Police. My duties as a Media Officer include:

• Write press releases as an investigative tool to appeal for information relating to serious crimes.
• Publicise the good work of the force through court outcomes including full media packages ensuring the stories are covered by media so that the public hear about it.
• Liaise with and answer enquiries from local, national and international media.
• Organise media interviews, manage the media at operational incidents, and press conferences/briefings.
• Brief and write quotes for officers and staff of all rank
• Attend court for high-profile/reputational cases
• Liaise with partner agencies to ensure accurate reporting of cases which involve multi-agencies.

I get a real sense of pride when publicising the outstanding work of our officers, whether its cracking down on ASB, or tackling sexual offences.
I am extremely passionate about creating powerful press releases and media packages which ensures that media cover the story and our public are well informed. I am a firm believer of the notion 'justice seen, justice done.'

There are many things that I am proud of:whether that is writing a media strategy which assists in the result of locating a missing person safe and well or creating a full media package for a court outcome.

My most recent has to be a sexual assault investigation named 'Operation LA'. The suspect had attacked two women in a small town in Devon which caused much concern. I worked with the investigation team and released CCTV of the suspect vehicle along with a press release to obtain witnesses.

The suspect was eventually caught and attended court. I produced a full media package for the court outcome including press release with quotes from several senior officers, a talking-head, video footage of the offender driving around the town and a one-to-one interview with the senior investigative officer which we shared on our own social media channels.

I also spoke to one of the victims about the possibility of speaking anonymously to local media. She agreed to speak to regional media about her ordeal and was well supported by myself and her sexual offences liaison officer. This was arranged and upon sentencing, the story was the lead on both BBC and ITV. This was due to the powerful interview given by one of the victims and the full and detailed media package they were given.

The coverage highlighted Devon and Cornwall Police's commitment in tackling violence against women and girls. Something, which as a mother to a girl and with a lived experience, is forever close to my heart. Creating such content and obtaining wide coverage of these types of cases is, in my opinion, key to gaining back public trust and confidence and giving others the confidence in reporting.

Nick is responsible for almost internal and external campaign artwork at Lancashire Police, designing assets from posters and pull up banners to outdoor advertisements.

Most recently, the artwork Nick did for the forces drink/drug driving campaign has helped the force to achieve a 20 per cent increase in reports of drink and drug driving over the winter of 2024/25, and the artwork he has done for force recruitment campaigns helped to ensure that they exceeded all of their uplift targets.

Sam Malone stepped into the role of Senior News Officer at Avon and Somerset Police at the start of 2023 and his colleagues say his friendly, approachable, and caring nature has made the News Team an absolute delight to work in.   

He personifies the organisation’s values in everything he does. He takes the time to listen to the team, understand how they feel, and how best to support their wellbeing. He applies this caring nature to his work and is trauma-informed and puts the victims at the heart of everything he does.  

Sam is not afraid to challenge something if he feels it’s wrong and encourages the team to do the same. He has a strong moral compass and isn’t afraid to share his own vulnerabilities and learnings.

This year, Sam has taken on several large cases and projects which have been a new experience for him. When doing so, he makes and shares his learnings from these experiences.  

Sam has worked and led the way on several projects, including supporting a victim of non-recent sexual assault who decided to waive her anonymity. Sam worked tirelessly to support the individual through this difficult process and with ITV to conduct a groundbreaking, exclusive interview where she spoke about her experiences. 

For several months, Sam was the solo news officer working on the case of a man who planned to carry out a series of mass shootings at his former school and police headquarters while disguised as a police officer. He dealt with the subject matter delicately and professionally and spent a great deal of time dedicating himself to the operation. The coverage was vast with national media interest, and he played a key role in supporting the case to its completion. 

My duties are to:

• Manage three teams within the department.
• Deputise for the head of department.
• Manage crisis comms.
• Manage the teams response to reputational media enquiries.
• Have oversight and provide leadership of all force campaigns.
• To devise and manage internal and external comms and engagement strategies.
• Stakeholder management.

What I enjoy most about my role is that every day is different. I love the challenges that the role throws at me and that I am constantly learning and passing my knowledge on to others. 

I started in communications on a secondment and then have progressed and had four other roles within the department. I have worked for Derbyshire Constabulary for 25 years this year.

I worked on a attempt murder/rape case a few years ago where I was given a Judges Commendation for the work that I did. I was the first press officer ever to receive this award. I built a relationship with the victim and did a lot of work with her to help find the perpetrator over a period of four months.