Improper Use Of Social Media In Day-To-Day Law Enforcement

In today’s society, we have been overwhelmed with the internet and social media. This has had an effect on the way law enforcement has had to adapt to social changes. Since the birth of Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Snap Chat, and YouTube law enforcement has had to make many changes to their operations. These are both good and bad, considering almost everyone has a smartphone with a camera and social media applications on them, they are readily accessible to anyone at any time.

A growing hot topic, and cause for concern is the increasing use of social media in the workplace. The landscape for communication has changed, and the line between personal and professional communications has been blurred. How will your employer manage the risks associated with the use of social media and at the same time, gain the benefits that this media form provides? While many employers were initially concerned that employees would use company time and equipment for socializing with friends, they are quickly learning that many social networks can also be used directly for work purposes.

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.

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.

In one study, during and after a five year period after a social media post went viral indicating that a particular police department used excessive force, the number of police reports and citizen complaints decreased about 10%. This research implies that police officers does in fact reacts to social media posting and are likely to decrease excessive force used on the job due to being watch all the time. As expected, this research make officers and citizens more aware of the huge impact social media has on the use of excessive force by police. In addition, this research proposal should or may encourage officers to avoid police brutality while on the job in unnecessary situations. Why? Because their actions will be posted to social media and millions of people will be able to form their opinions and perceptions. What this also mean is citizens cannot be too sensitive to police interaction with the public (if the situation is cause to use excessive force) because anything can go viral and can create a broader situation of hostility and distrust between our protectors (police officers) and

In years past, those in power have often swayed society's common opinions. The development of social media, however, now provides a powerful voice for the common citizen. Within seconds of a news-worthy incident, people around the country can see an individual’s opinion by simply looking on a smartphone or computer. Along with this steady increase in connectedness has come an increase in criticism and negativity spread on social media. In recent months, many criticize the actions and treatment of individuals by law enforcement officers. Although law enforcement personnel occasionally abuse their power, social media and reports from news networks increasingly influence citizens' attitude and perception towards police who make a living trying

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

Social media has become a prominent entity in everyone’s daily lives, and with it, has also bought some pros and cons. The world was shaken on different occasions with countless videos of police brutality. Since social media has become so popular and widespread around America, people filming these arrests of police brutality has now made it mainstream and has brought transparency to the misconduct that police have brought towards civilians. It is not that police misconduct has not been happening, but with the growing age of technology, everything has now come to the forefront and is now being exposed worldwide.

The purpose of this paper to show the negative and positive effect that social media brings to the Criminal Jusice Department. Social Media plays a key role in how many people view the criminal justice field. The way people write, post, blog, share or record a situation, whether true or not, it will spread like wildfire. The department, either right or wrong, will be penalized and reprimanded by people who were not at the scene by directly responding to a positive or negative situation through social media.

Judicial factors: The dynamic and complex issues associated with social media in the workplace has effected the law enforcement organization and its employees. This is especially true when a survey conducted by the Institute for Criminal Justice found that 78 percent of law enforcement respondents had a social media account and of those more than 38 percent identified themselves as policing professionals (Stuart, 2013). As the growth continues, social media has created a blurred divide between constitutional protections and has created exposure to liability and admissibility.

3.) MANY POLICE DEPARTMENTS ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO LOOK FOR CRIMINALS IN THEIR JURISDICTION DOING ILLEGAL ACTS (EXAMPLE: SUSPECTS POSTING THEIR DRUGS AND ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES). SHOULD POLICE DEPARTMENTS BE ABLE TO PROSECUTE THESE INDIVIDUALS, WHO SAY THEY ARE ONLY EXPRESSING

Criminal investigation techniques will change in the future from the changing culture of today. Today we are a much more technological culture and with that cyber-crimes are occurring more and more frequently. Also on the rise is terrorism which changes how our law enforcement agencies have to operate. The pairing of our technological culture with the rise in terrorism makes for a deadly combination. “Internet technology and the proliferation of social networking sites have changed how terrorist organizations recruit and communicate with would-be acolytes. This development has rendered the collection of intelligence an issue of salience for federal, state, and local authorities” (Mayer & Erickson, 2011, June 23). While our technological culture has had many advantages such as faster communication this has also sown a distrust between many of the community and law enforcement through the use of social media. One bad decision can by a law enforcement officer can become a nationally phenomenon if recorded and shared on social media. This has caused much scrutiny for many law enforcement agencies and has caused distrust of law enforcement.

The Clifford Harris video, Warzone, is a thought-provoking video that documents not the killings of blacks at the hands of law enforcement but, rather, the unprecedented scenario of cops targeting everyday white folks. Viewers are taken through a few disturbing scenes, including reenactments of the killings of Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, and Eric Garner, only with white citizens playing the tragic victims. The video is a call to action for white citizens to wake up and witness the "Warzone" that exists in plain sight for minorities in this country. The subject matter of the aforementioned video was brought to the attention of America by utilizing social media as the primary outlet. Today, the criminal justice system has come under tremendous scrutiny due to sophisticated methods of communication, which is social media. Law enforcement tools have progressed from wanted posters to police radio, and social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Live, and Instagram. Community policing has reached a new level because of social media in an effort expose rogue police officers, locate those that are missing, alert neighbors of suspicious activity, provide information to the public of crimes committed in their neighborhoods, and offer an accurate record of police activity. The social media

The technology that is social media can be used for many good purposes, but you should always remember to not post “prejudice/racist comments, not to share confidential information and stay away from idiotic/rude comments” (Newstex. 2015) while you are on the job.

Personal use of social media sites among police officers brings forth yet another complicated issue. The IACP’s Center for Social Media, urges police departments to prohibit officers from representing the department on personal web sites (wagley, 2014). As part of my social media order all employees would be required to sign a waiver agreeing to not make any associations between themselves and the department. However, when utilizing professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, divulgence of occupation and department would be acceptable. While employees would not be permitted to provide the department with sensitive information such as passwords, if an officer’s site was reported to contain activities or behaviors that violated laws or polices of law officials, they would be subject to disciplinary actions. Posts, comments and any other dialogue pertaining to the department would be prohibited. In addition, videos, photos of any kind that identified said department would be forbidden especially those of officers while in police precinct, uniformed officers, and those wearing apparel that represented the department. While the general order would not be designed to restrict nor put stipulations or limitations on ones life style, the intent would be to preserve