{"id":257044,"date":"2025-11-06T11:01:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T15:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=257044"},"modified":"2025-11-06T11:01:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T15:01:45","slug":"police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Police to Step Up Public Engagement and Social Media Use"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda is set to expand its public outreach through social media and community engagement, according to Director General of Communications *Maurice Merchant<\/em>.<\/p>

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Speaking at Thursday\u2019s post-Cabinet press briefing, Merchant said discussions are underway for the police to launch official Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger accounts<\/em> as part of a renewed focus on public education and crime prevention. He explained that the initiative will allow the force to better communicate with citizens and share regular updates on its operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merchant said the police are also planning to issue weekly updates<\/em> through traditional and social media \u201con their crime-fighting efforts and on how members of the public can prevent the occurrence of crime.\u201d He noted that this approach reflects a broader strategy to rebuild trust and cooperation between law enforcement and the community.<\/p>

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During the briefing, Merchant also emphasized the importance of reviving the \u201cSee Something, Say Something\u201d<\/em> campaign, urging residents to support police efforts by reporting suspicious activity. \u201cWe seem to be going first world by \u2018see something, ignore everything,\u2019\u201d he said, adding that such attitudes do not help in the fight against crime.<\/p>

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He said the Cabinet has encouraged the police to strengthen community and victim support programs<\/em>, and to use public education to inform citizens about legal penalties and deterrence methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enhanced outreach effort comes as the government seeks to improve inter-agency coordination<\/em> between the police, Customs, and Coast Guard to combat illegal firearms and other criminal activity.<\/p>

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The Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda is set to expand its public outreach through social media and community engagement, according to Director General of Communications *Maurice Merchant. Speaking at Thursday\u2019s post-Cabinet press briefing, Merchant said discussions are underway for the police to launch official Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger accounts as part of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":233277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPolice to Step Up Public Engagement and Social Media Use - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Police to Step Up Public Engagement and Social Media Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda is set to expand its public outreach through social media and community engagement, according to Director General of Communications *Maurice Merchant. Speaking at Thursday\u2019s post-Cabinet press briefing, Merchant said discussions are underway for the police to launch official Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger accounts as part of a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-06T15:01:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-06T15:01:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_1244.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1284\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"anr_staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"anr_staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"anr_staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f66ae26f5698168092c3ef9bccb12038\"},\"headline\":\"Police to Step Up Public Engagement and Social Media Use\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-06T15:01:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-06T15:01:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/\"},\"wordCount\":257,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1284\/h:540\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_1244.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/police-to-step-up-public-engagement-and-social-media-use\/\",\"name\":\"Police to Step Up Public Engagement and Social Media Use - 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