Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I wonder given your target audience, how much fancy social web stuff you need to do. If you haven't already, focus on your target market directly (providing a website that clearly shows the value of your offering, with lots of useful information). Then, if you think social web stuff will help get you further, add additional features.

How about some type of application database where the police enter the words or a description of the graffiti and your back-end helps determine trends, etc. This could lead into a forum where law officials communicate with each other and spot potential trends before they become a real danger to the public (if they uncover something because of your site, PR the heck out of it).

Dear Alexg,

Three good friends and colleagues of mine and are former law enforcement (one was a Philadelphia under cover cop in the Vice Division, one a former Air Force MP, with the latter being a Delaware State Trooper). All fully paid up members of the Good Bloke Society.

From what I know of law enforcement officials, they want good, solid, reliable intel.

Nothing more.

Literally, "Just the facts, ma'am!" stuff. That's it. No whistles. No bells.
No fancy banners, widgets, tweets, face books, or any other clutter.

My cousin's a Detective Superintendent for the Metropolitan Police in London, England. He's 48. I don't know which country you're in, or which regions you're serving (hopefully lots), but the average DS here in the States is probably in his or her late 30s or early 40s. The average Chief probably mid 40s and up. All late(ish) baby boomers.

Imagine your customer is Gibbs from NCIS and you'll get the picture.
No flim flam. No technowhizzbang stuff. Just plain, factual intel.

See Gibbs as your "ideal" senior officer. BEFORE you inundate Gibbs with buttons to press, ask him what he needs to do his job. Then give it to him. By all means, build a more detailed layer in for younger officers, but BEFORE you do any more work, ask everyone you'll be dealing with what would be of must use to them.

Day in, day out, these brave souls patrol our neighbourhoods and streets, looking to keep them safe. They serve us.

Your job is to serve them. Yes, your company might have to pay
a little extra in money or time. But sometimes, law enforcement people pay with their lives.

If your site can keep one perp. from pulling a gun or a blade when caught in the act, you'll have earned your salary for the rest of your life.

I ask you to consider making your product as simple to use as possible.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

What about a new angle? Like a campaign called "Greeting Graffiti" or the the 1st Annual Graffiti Arts Contest, where you invite people to come out, graffiti old sections of dilapidated buildings where they will be on display for a month. People in the community can come out and vote on their favorite and then have a large awards ceremony where the artist/winner is featured in the paper and tv. You would have to register first to participate and would be given an assigned wall/space to cover. At the end of the contest/month /exhibit, volunteers for habitat for humanity would come and repaint over them a fun color. This would bring out the people who are normally causing vandalism to see their work as art, allow them to get noticed and at the same time during the contest, would be a way to get them educated on things happening in the arts community at the local museum, arts council, etc.
I took 3 students from Athens GA and taught them about graphic design, paid 1 to make a graffiti painting for me, brought in tattoo artists to talk to them (which they wanted to do at the beginning) then with the confidence they gained, they decided to go to school for architecture and graphic design. Sometimes people doing graffiti just want an outlet to be creative, but have no proper training or way/knowledge of how to express themselves. Take the negative and turn it into a positive...
Good luck! (From a southern art professor!)