Crowdsourcing Effects On Investigations

The use of social media in law enforcement has been on the rise throughout the U.S. over the past few years. According to the LexisNexis 2014 Social Media Use in Law Enforcement report, eight out of every 10 law enforcement professionals use social media as a tool in investigations, and 25 percent use it every day. The use of social media to help obtain probable cause is widely accepted, the survey shows. Three out of four respondents, or 76 percent, said that, when they used social media as probable cause, it has never been challenged. The percentage is down from 87 percent in 2012.

The issue of police body cameras really hit the media hard this week. Blasting from the headlines all citizens were aware that Michael Brown was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri. This prompted officers to become equipped with body cameras. This technologically advanced world that we live in today has created a world of tweeting, posting and uploading. It’s about time that police departments take advantage of the tools accessible to them especially with the advancement of equipment. The move forward in technology will help to alleviate speculation on any crime perpetrated. There now will be hard factual evidence on any crime committed against a police officer.

The familiarity of such cases is evidence to believe that one case or even many cases of the same caliber did not prompt the decision to fund police body cameras alone but a more influential reason can explain the decision for body cameras. A state of field assessment conducted by the police reform revealed that various forms of technology is being adapted or developed for law enforcement purposes, and there are many specific technologies, both current and emerging, that can benefit law enforcement. The theory that can best explain new emerging technologies that has power to influence political decisions can best be explained by the new media

The body camera has become a popular choice amongst police departments worldwide. The situation of the scenario, and if the officer or suspect acted in the right can be determined from past footage. The cause of the body camera has been the allegations against officers for how they acted in certain situations, as well as for how the suspect acted during the callout. The effect has been officers being terminated due to lack of integrity or situational awareness, as well as officer safety. Suspects have also been convicted of false accusations against a police officer, as well as crimes presented in court, from fights, to officer involved shootings. The body worn camera has benefited both police officers and the general public.

The media plays a huge part in society in the twenty-first century and it seems as if people cannot live without the internet. The Dallas shooting was a massive shooting against the police. Police officers believe that multiple shots were firing from all sides. Dana LeBlanc is an American citizen that understands the social problems in her country because of the news and police. She explained to me, "I do believe there is racism in the United States but we should look at everyone

Articles written by professional analysts who specialize in investigating specific incidents involving police delinquency, bring awareness through social media by informing millions

The media is also another of the greatest challenges for law enforcement. The media never shows the whole story. Chances are the media doesn’t even know the whole story; yet officers are judged by what the media portrays. You can’t hear a news report or even read a newspaper without the race of an individual being identified. This is only fueling the race issue for everyone. It is tearing communities apart. In this aspect, social media appears to be a double edged sword. It can help law enforcement by connecting with the public, tracking criminals, and gathering Intel but it also puts every word or action by an

“Body-worn cameras capture in real time the potentially traumatic experiences of citizens who are victims of a crime, those who are involved in medical emergencies and accidents, or those who are being detained or arrested”, (White 2014, p.27). While there are certainly many negative issues that arise from the use of body worn cameras, they are also positives to its use as well. One of the benefits of using this type of video evidence is that because of the footage available not only with the likelihood of criminals pleading guilty be higher and avoid unnecessary trials, but also that victims themselves would not have to relive the same trauma in a court room again. (2015). The video evidence, if available will provide help with the arrest of the offenders, “as it offers real time, permanent record of the events that transpired”, (White 2014, p. 24). No second guessing is necessary when legitimate video evidence is available. When used correctly and the public is able to have access to the camera footage, this allows for transparency between the police and the public, as it allows for the police to beheld accountable for their actions from the perspective of the citizens, thus improving police legitimacy. Although it is important to note here that very little research has been done surround this aspect. The more transparent the police force appear to the public, the increased likelihood that the trust in-between them will increase. “Reductions in both

Photos and videos are more accurate than people’s memories and could be a great way to solve a crime. To have many eyes looking through photos and videos, crowd sourcing may solve crimes quicker than ever before. The general public might just catch information that the police have

Since the up-climb of social media began in 2003, law enforcement has greatly adapted to the social media network in order to better communicate with the public and to improve their protocol. Much of police work is unappreciated and unknown of. Therefore, some departments have taken it upon themselves to educate the public via social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. This is done in order to inform the community of what their department does, and to build confidence and trust towards their agency. Around the country, law enforcement agencies see social media as both beneficial and damaging. Thus, with the awareness that social media is here to stay, law enforcement has chosen to adjust to these social changes and to use them in their benefit.

Introduction: Thesis Statement ( talk about 3 reasons to support your thesis) Some people think that social media is a great platform to be part of a new community and meet new friends while others realize that this can be very harmful to social media users because of criminal activity, crazy challenges, addiction, cyber bullying and much more. Reason 1 To start, social media can be used as a way to conduct criminal activity such as identity theft and scams. Giving away information like your address could lead to criminal activity.

There is much controversy over whether or not the risks of social media outweigh the benefits. While it can be used for numerous types of criminal activity, it can also be used to stop these crimes and other criminals. Just a few examples of occurrences that can negatively affect or even inflict physical harm on people through social media usage include things such as cyberbullying, sexual predation, robbery, etc. These things can permanently affect people’s lives or even, in some cases, kill them. Given these risks, there are also many strategies the police utilize to catch criminals, which would not be possible without social media. So, which is it? Does the amount of predators or cyberbullies online and on social media give ample enough reason to consider social media more help than harm, or are there enough good things that result from social media usage to consider social media a valuable asset? Social media can be used as a tool in law enforcement, but there are too many negative factors, like crime and cyberbullying, that were directly caused by social media to consider it much of an asset.

-In Furtado et al.’s (2010) article on collective intelligence in law enforcement, they focused on the utility of anonymous mass collaboration through sites like WikiCrimes. Ideally, this would help circumvent some of the current obstacles in law enforcement, which includes promoting greater transparency between police departments and the public, which would in turn encourage more citizen interest and cooperation. This would then allow agencies to collect and analyze information from a larger sample size and address crimes that are problematic for being under-reported. One main of the issues that they discussed in regards to using online mass collaborations is the lack of credibility that comes with relying on anonymous sources. One can

What is crowd sourcing? It is a free way of gaining knowledge from a large array of people. “Today, crowdsourcing is used in investing, in creative work and in funding start up projects.” (2014) Where some may have knowledge of the topic and others may not. Crowd sourcing has grown with the help of the internet allowing more people to interact with the companies or government agencies. With the help of the internet people have begun to invent apps that are used for crowd sourcing.

Despite the numerous positive roles played by social media in modern policing, there are also related negative roles in the process . The most common problem involved in modern policing is the security threats that are incurred by the officers