Law Enforcement Trends

Nowadays, social media touches nearly every part of our lives. Industry or domains such as governments, military, corporations, financial institutions, and hospitals collect, process and store a great deal of confidential information on computers and transmits that data across networks to other

Social media today is a very free place. We are allowed to post whatever we like and comment on whomever’s picture. However, social media can be a very dark place too, because of this freedom. Hate across the world can be seen, different accounts are made only for bringing down others, and the arguments of the small things are formed every single day. Although these problems are seen on social media they are not related to the topic I am concerned about. I want to discuss all of the hidden powers social media websites like Twitter and Facebook have along with the idea that our government should have those powers.

Stuart gives examples and statistics concerning the growth of social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook. This is where the author address the first warrant that most people do not understand the size and scope of social media. Stuart then moves on to address the second part of the warrant. The author uses examples to illustrate that social media has been successfully used on many occasions to aid law enforcement in their duties. He uses examples of pictures posted on a popular social media website leading to the identification of a body.

Although problems with the inappropriate use of social networks are not new, in recent years, it has been observed by many authorities how the internet allows any actor to perform information operations with amazing ease and effectiveness. Indeed, several countries and individuals are using online multichannel platforms and social networks like Instagram, Snapchat Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, the mentioned sites allows any actor to collect an enormous amount of information on their potential adversaries and influence public opinion through propaganda and counter-propaganda activities. The armed forces of several countries, including the United States want to take action on the issue, this has caused a domino effect that not only touches us

The number of law enforcement officers required for a particular jurisdiction is based on how many officers you need to neutralize a threat or threats and maintain a balance of peace to that jurisdiction. Depending on the needs within a jurisdiction will result in how many law enforcement officers that are required for that jurisdiction. In my opinion, there can never be too many law enforcement officers in any jurisdiction. Even in operations that require an undercover capacity, the operation is conflicted and the more "good guys" you have, the stronger you are. The data provided by the FBI is essential but does not elaborate on a number of officers required for a jurisdiction (Maciag, 2016).

The police have been using social media to catch criminals by creating fake profiles are following around their suspects. This technique is very easy to perform because anyone can create a profile on social media. The police essentially create a spoofed profile and add their suspects as friends to be notified of what they post. This occasionally leads to gathering evidence against their suspects or even getting information about gangs or events. This method is more preferred for police because it is safer than being on the streets. This method can also be more beneficial because criminals nowadays tend to post everything they do on social media. Allowing the authorities to map gang member’s lives and investigate other gang activities.

Terrorism and the use of social media to further its objective is a major concern affecting the world today. With the growing threat of terrorism, studying its operational techniques help to determine how and why terror groups are succeeding. Understanding the impact that terror groups have on marginalized populations through propaganda and a manipulation of facts will help in developing a greater understanding of terror group’s ability to mount successful campaigns globally. Given the threat that social media poses to the exposure and growth of terror organizations worldwide, much research and analysis is currently underway to examine the role that social media has played in the radicalization of countless individuals from various backgrounds and localities throughout the world. The link between social media and terrorist networks and their recruiting campaigns are very much an issue affecting peace and stability today. As such, nations and law enforcement agencies globally have taken steps with the communication industry to address this issue. Unfortunately however free and open access and anonymity offered by the internet creates a scenario in which law enforcement can identify terrorist material and remove it but terror groups can replace it with new content faster than it can be removed.

One of the major roles of the social media in modern policing is acting as an analytical tool. Criminal investigations tend to incorporate use of social media in creating leads towards the suspects . This is mainly because most people have the tendency in updating their whereabouts on social media and even it is possible to know the character of someone by accessing their accounts.

Cases such as this one shows the increasing use of social media in criminal investigations. Just how often do law enforcements use social media in their line of work? “A nationwide survey conducted last year of 600 law enforcement agencies found that 92 percent use some form of social media. Of those plugged-in agencies, 90 percent use Facebook, 50 percent Twitter and 37 percent YouTube, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Center for Social Media findings”.

Cell phones. Just about everybody has one. Every day we do activities involving devices such as cell phones, or laptops. We call and talk to people, text our friends, browse the internet. But little do we realize that someone else is listening in or browsing with us.

However, it is not all bad news. Social media has created new opportunities for criminal justice agencies to solve crimes, among other things.

Governments around the world watch citizens under the pretext of national security. Since social media is widespread in many people and lots of people open their private pages so anyone could read, governments monitor social media using Big Data technology. Though many countries covertly do social media oversight, effectiveness on security is still unknown. Current state of Big Data technology can merely figure out what the sentence

SnapChat, Facebook, any number of blogging tools—can be referred to under a number of different labels, but the generally accepted term is “social media”. While in 2016 they are anything but new, social media continues to gain prominence to the point where they are a somewhat ubiquitous presence in contemporary society. As platforms designed to ingest high volumes of personal information, there are considerable privacy and security concerns associated with these services. Social media platforms are very broad but here, my discussion will focus mainly on Facebook and Snap chat.

In the article “Internet and Social Media,” Tom Price described how social media influenced the economy and the legal concerns in the U.S. He emphasized the importance of intelligence products and privacy protection in the cyber age.

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are relatively new phenomena quickly and becoming a dominant part of our lives. In fact as of September 2014, Facebook alone boasted 864 million daily active users, if that metric is changed to monthly active users, it becomes 1.35 billion (Facebook, 2014. This is clearly not a passing trend that is used only by a small subset of individuals; it is a ubiquitous part of the daily lives of most citizens. In this paper I explore the usage of and behavior of the overall public and gang members in particular on SNSs and argue that, when used ethically and appropriately, law enforcement and the communities they serve can benefit greatly from this technology.