Adrian Hanstock

Said the following about British Transport Police Corporate Communications:

“In a year that has presented a series of significant communications challenges, British Transport Police’s Corporate Communications team has stepped up to the mark time and time again.

In only the last 12 months, they have managed the force’s communications in relation to:

• A fatal tram derailment in which seven people died and 51 were injured (November 2016)

• Three terrorist attacks – Westminster (March 2017), Manchester Arena (May 2017) and London Bridge (June 2017)

• The threat level from international terrorism being raised to critical (May 2017)

• A viable explosive device being discovered on a Tube carriage (October 2016)

• Three murder investigations and a number of high profile violent offences

Throughout each of these incidents, the team of 19 (media relations, internal communications and campaigns) remained calm, professional and in control. They provided their colleagues with clear and thoughtful direction and invaluable support and advice throughout, and were led by a senior team which is able to recognise immediate operational challenges and provide dynamic leadership in real-time, without waiting for direction.

Within minutes of being alerted to the tram derailment in Croydon, a media relations officer was on their way to the scene and remained there with another team member for more than 12 hours, supporting officers giving interviews to local, national and international media outlets. The team worked seamlessly to rapidly deliver reassuring and informative messages to colleagues within the force, the people affected, the wider public, local businesses and stakeholders. On behalf of BTP, they co-ordinated the communications outputs of partner organisations and worked with the Major Investigation Team and Coroner to support the families of the deceased, including preparing and distributing written tributes and photographs.

In the space of just 12 days in May/June 2017, the team was challenged again when BTP was at the heart of the response to the Manchester Arena and London Bridge terrorist attacks, with our officers first on the scene at both incidents. Again, the team responded immediately, moving to 12-hour shifts on a 24/7 rota to provide their colleagues across the force with the support they needed. They played a key role in ensuring public safety by issuing clear and concise information to the public via social media, advising them of what had happened and to avoid the area. They ensured the public was kept informed with a steady stream of information and that our heroic officers were able to tell their stories through the media. The team also played a major role in boosting and maintaining morale throughout this challenging time, with daily digests of the messages of support and thanks that had been received via social media from the people we serve.

When the threat level from international terrorism was raised to critical in the days after the Manchester Arena attack and before the London Bridge attack, the team stepped up another gear to ensure the travelling public and the rail industry knew what this would mean for them. Within four hours, they had announced there would be armed police officers on trains outside of London for the first time, ensuring our message was delivered to the public via the front pages, airwaves and social media, and supported officers in briefing the industry.

Like the rest of the force, the team worked long hours over an extended period of time, but not a single person complained or failed to volunteer to do what was needed. Their work helped boost morale at a time when resources were extremely stretched and each team member went above and beyond what was expected of them.

Alongside all of the challenges mentioned above, in the last year the team has also delivered high impact, high profile communications campaigns, including:

• Reality Check – aimed at discouraging trespass on the railway during the summer holidays – using hard hitting CCTV content aimed at young people and parents in target locations

Outcomes – The CCTV montage reached more than 2 million online users in the first week and there were calls for it to be shown in schools and on television; the campaign was covered in 28 regional and national newspapers, on 13 radio stations and national breakfast news; at the end of the holidays, trespass-related disruption minutes were down three per cent.

• Positive action recruitment campaign – aimed at encouraging applications to be a police officer from more women and people from a black and minority ethnic background

Outcomes – This was BTP’s most successful recruitment campaign to date, with 24,000 online registrations and over 4,500 applications, 40% of which were from women or people from a black and minority ethnic background.

All of these examples demonstrate how this team has harnessed the power of excellent teamwork to provide an invaluable service to BTP and the wider rail industry and, most importantly, to keep the people BTP serves informed about safety and security on the rail network. Throughout this challenging year I have personally received significant thanks for the quality, clarity and agility of the messages shared with the industry at all levels, providing factual updates as well as specific guidance and requests for vigilance, and how this helped the industry to feel informed and included and that its interests were being considered both during the critical and recovery phases of the incidents.

I believe the team would be a deserving winner of the Rail Staff Awards Marketing and Communications Team of the Year Award.

Deputy Chief Constable Adrian Hanstock

British Transport Police“