The Police webchat system is an on-line chat room where members of the public can interact with members of the Constabulary.

Webchat sessions are pre-scheduled and run between certain times on certain days. You can see details of forthcoming discussions displayed on the main webchat page.

Some webchat sessions may be "private". In this case a password will be needed to enter the discussion. An example of a private webchat could be a neighbourhood watch discussion with residents from a particular area. In this case the password would be given to these people in advance.

In the top right is a button labelled 'Leave chat'. You can leave the webchat at any time by clicking this button.

In the right hand column you will see a list of other people taking part in the discussion. The colour of the icon next to the person's name indicates the following:

Green: A member of the public

Red: The webchat moderator

Blue: A representative of the Constabulary

When someone in the chat asks a question, it will automatically appear in the questions box, which appears at the bottom right hand side of the chat window.
This list allows everybody to see what questions have been asked and which question will be answered next.

The main focus of the interface is the main discussion window itself. Here is where the discussion will be displayed.

The webchat system's main purpose is to provide an easy-to-use channel for discussion between the police and members of the public. Any form of abuse to other members of a webchat discussion, police staff or otherwise will not be tolerated.

A moderator will oversee each discussion. If the moderator believes anyone is behaving in an unacceptable way they will remove him or her from the discussion.