Case Studies
View Royal Fire Rescue – reaching more people quicker
View Royal Fire Rescue, just north of Victoria British Columbia, has a keen eye for new ways to reach out to their community. Chief Paul Hurst immediately saw a great opportunity with Podcast Stations.
“We only have 3 phone lines, and 99% of the time that’s more than we need. But as soon as there’s an emergency the phone lines are jammed. What’s more is there is no one here to answer them since we’re all out dealing with the situation. Once things are under control, I end up spending all my time on my mobile phone fielding the same questions from the media.”
Now, with the View Royal Podcast Station, officers routinely call in to the DailySplice Studio on their way out to major emergencies and as developments unfold. This keeps both the community and media informed and lets the fire fighters focus on the fire fighting.
“Having the ability to create voice messages on my website using the phone allows me to make important information, like road closures, available in real time without having to lose focus while I’m out on an incident.” Says the department’s Chief Fire Prevention Officer, Robert Marshal.
Just days after releasing their Podcast Station, View Royal Fire Rescue was responsible for saving one of the oldest buildings in the province of British Columbia. Town officials and media were able to follow the progress as it happened, getting first hand updates directly from officers long before it made headlines the next morning.
The department received high praises from media and government. Please take a moment to listen to one of these phone updates, or watch a video of the local MLA commending the department for their heroic work. You can view all of View Royal’s podcasts on their website at viewroyalfire.com.
Saanich Police - serving and protecting in an increasingly digital world
The Saanich Police have been protecting Saanich’s now 115,000 residents for over 100 years. Today, with so much of people’s lives going online, the department is keeping pace by extending its reach to the world of social media.
The department first started podcasting with DailySplice in September 2008, becoming the first police department in Canada to take advantage of this powerful and popular form of online media.
“What motivated us was an understanding that podcasting is the fastest growing form of communication in the history of communication, and we wanted to be a part of that.” Says John Price, the department’s public information officer.
To date, the police department has published over 100 podcast episodes, which places the department at the forefront of police podcasting world-wide.
Most of the department’s podcasts are 2-4 minute audio clips about safety and crime prevention, but others include videos from TV media coverage, crime watch videos, information about unsolved crimes, and media releases.
Many of the podcasts are written and recorded in batches of 20-30, and then placed on an automated schedule so that new content becomes available consistently every week. Other episodes, like media releases, are recorded and published instantly over the phone.
“When we get some TV coverage, or have some time to put into recording professional PSAs, DailySplice makes it easy to get that on to our website. But even when we update the podcast over the phone it comes out sounding pretty good, and it’s so easy that often times we like to just use the phone to get a variety of messages online.” Says Price.
The Saanich Police currently gets approximately 2500 requests per month for its podcast via the website, in iTunes, and on mobile devices like BlackBerries.
“When people download our podcast, we know they are more engaged because they’ve actually gone to our website and clicked a button to play it, or they’ve subscribed to it in their iTunes or elsewhere.”
The podcasts are a particularly effective way for the department to make timely information available to the entire municipality and the Capital Region.
“When we do regular media releases, I send them out to an email list and sometimes make individual calls to all my media contacts. But only about 30% of what I send out actually gets covered. With the podcast, if I have something important say, I can place one phone call and speak directly to all my media contacts and our community at the same time and it will always be available on the website.”
The Saanich Police continue to provide an excellent example of how emergency services can leverage new media to protect and serve communities in a modern, digital world.
You can view all the Saanich Police podcasts at saanichpolice.ca