A charity that tackles crime and anti-social behaviour has received an award for a scheme which speeds up communication between its members.

Information on potential troublemakers and thieves, and their photographs, are passed between members via Whatsapp, the mobile phone communication application.

The award was won by Dover Partnership Against Crime (DPAC), which also covers Sandwich and Deal.

Karen Griffiths, group co-ordinator, was presented with a commendation certificate and a prize of £100 at the conference of the National Association of Business Crime Partnerships (NABCP) in Northampton.

The award was for third place in the innovation category of the association’s Partnership Excellence Awards, and was for the Whatsapp initiative.

In August 2015 DPAC relaunched Pubwatch but it was difficult for members to hear radio alerts in noisy bars. So the photo system was use, which also provides clear identification.

Mrs Griffiths said: “We excluded these people from our members’ premises because of their behaviour. But, by their very nature, pubs are loud places and it soon became apparent that members were having
difficulty alerting each other on the radio when those who had been excluded were out and about.

“So we had to think of a way of alerting each other. To avoid mis-identification from a description, we thought sharing a photo of the person would be better and we decided to use Whatsapp to alert each other.”

Mrs Griffiths sought help from Mike Schuck, from the NABCP, who liaised with the Information Commissioner’s Office on her behalf, and use of Whatsapp was approved.

She said: “The pubwatch Whatsapp group proved so successful it was decided to use it for [anti-shoplifter schem] Shopwatch too.”

Each DPAC member who signs up to the Whatsapp group must follow strict protocols and sign data-sharing agreements.

Photos and information of individuals are shared to prevent and deter crime.

They are uploaded to DPAC’s secure website on a daily basis and must be removed from users’ phones each day.

Mrs Griffiths also took the idea to the Business Crime Reduction Partnership seminar at police headquarters and several other partnerships have now decided to use it.

She said: “We are thrilled to have been recognised with this national award.

“The Information Commissioner was at the conference and this award cements the ratification of the use of Whatsapp within the Business Crime Partnerships community.”