The Role Of Social Media In Law Enforcement

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

In tune with the worldwide development and popularity of Hip Hop music, “a symbiotic relationship between culture and law”1 has emerged. “Culture shapes the law, and law is a product of culture”.2 Our society is reminded and alerted to daily neighborhood, state and national crimes via not only online and television news forums, but the various social platforms now heavily relied on: YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. However, it can be argued that these new advances in technology and

Grimes, J. N. (2010 January-December). The social construction of social problems: "Three Strikes and You 're Out" in the mass media. Journal of Criminal Justice and Law, 2(1-2), 39-56. doi:Ebscohost database

The police and the media have been very closely related to one another for a very long time and they will always have to have a relationship with them. They are so closely related because crime itself is considered news that is valuable to the people of a community. Without the media and law enforcement working together, many people would not know what was going on and/or how to act about certain crimes if there are any within their communities. With that in mind, law enforcement must keep up with all the advancing technologies that involve any kind of media. This includes social media, print, internet, television, and cell phones as well. Keeping up with all these different media platforms, working together with the media, and staying on

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.

Before the invention of Facebook, twitter, and many others, social media data collection was used by companies to get customers’ impression about their products. However, nowadays with modern technology the game has changed. Following the discoveries of these various social media networks, users are now capable of browsing vast bulk public postings, and others are taking advantage of it to commit crimes. This carnage of online crime has alerted the law enforcement to look ways to tackle it, hence starting to monitor and collect social media data. Collecting of social media data by law enforcement, is gathering of the users’ information, intercepts users’ communications, and analyzes that data to make intelligence determinations. This approach helps to disclose key information or secrets of online crimes to law enforcement. An online crime such as street gang and terrorism is not a new thing in the world today. Currently, terror and gang

Police were more advanced in technology in 2015 than they were in 2005. Police officers now use social media websites to monitor criminal activities, especially when criminals are dumb enough to post weapons and talk about crimes they have committed. This can be useful in preventing a crime from occurring when someone gets on social media and makes a threat that they’re going to kill someone.

In certain cases when police brutality is reported its always involved with a negative side from the race down to certain sexes. Law enforcements have mistreated minorities in many cases and got away with it. However, sometimes mistreatment isn't always consisting of physical harm to an individual in most cases. Disrespect and abuse come hand in hand when it gets down to police brutality. Police assume the victim is disrespecting their authority and they are quick to arrest or shoot an individual. Social media is changing the game for governments under pressure. Social media has suddenly turned into a powerful instrument of public scrutiny. And it is certainly here to stay. As a result, devising efficient means to subdue traditional media will not be sufficient anymore for governments intent on concealing the harshness of their law enforcement.Still, social media

Police presence within a community can deter crime, along with the police interacting within the communities. If crime has lessened in a particular area, it can be seen that the police are doing their job. With social media what it is today, it is easy to see that Peel’s fifth principle is essential. We read about crime over several different social media sites along with TV and radio. Getting the word out about crime can help the community to help the police in solving the crimes (Bohm & Haley, 2014).

As the day begins, millions of American’s perception of police work is influenced by everyday norms that they face. Whether it being actual interaction with police, news, movies, TV, protests, social media, observing police, or conversations with peers, people are knowingly or unknowingly forming an idea as to what police work is like. The ideas of policing have taken on a drastic change since the beginning of the 21st century. With the introduction of social media and the internet, people have been free to express whatever feelings or stories they have about police whenever they want without any fact checking or any type review by professionals. Entertainment media has molded policing into action pact dramas where

Police capture and hold their audience attention by using Kaplan and Haenlein’s five points about being social, which are “be active, be interesting, be humble, be unprofessional and be honest.” (Kaplan, Haenlein. 2009, 66) QPS Facebook and Twitter successfully demonstrate the genuine and informative side to QPS social media activity, while their Instagram is strategically developed to be humble and show the human side like their photos of the dog and their graduating recruits.

Addressing that media produces a false representation of crime and the victims involved in these crimes. There are sensationalized cases that catch the attention of media yet these crimes may not be representative of the social area that they are perpetrated within. Does the offense, ethnic group, or the arresting agency produce the sensationalism of the report. Consequently, are these reports driving the fear of victimization possibilities, social controls, and social divides. We look towards the media as a form of educational sources to depict what is truly going on within our communities, cultures, and world but are these true statements. So many are using social sites to interact within their everyday environment to post opinions,

Social Media plays a big role is emphasizing the daily events that occur. Media covers the daily events that occur throughout the world, and it completely up to them how they want to showcase an event (Gold, 2003). A lot of the information provided by media is anecdotal, meaning it is not necessarily true or reliable as it is based on personal accounts rather than facts of research (Gold, 2003). Looking through a theoretical perspective, and from a social constructionist approach, one can assume there is a problem because the public sees it as such, but the problem does not necessarily exists in an objective reality (Graziano et al, 2010). For example, take a look at the saying “there is more than meets the eye”, basically stating that though the media presents a situation, there is probably more to that story. Media acts as a frame to provide a story line or plot introduction coherence to discrete pieces of information for the public but does not clearly state the whole situation (Graziano et al, 2010). Media easily relies on police as a source for information to make quick and creditable statements

The main argument of this text is the limitations of using social media in modern policing. The author of this article illustrates the limitations in which social media can be used in community policing.

Social Media has become a staple in many peoples' daily lives. With Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram just a click away it is easy to update statuses to let the world know what is going on in your day to day routine. While updating family and friends does not seem like an issue, what the status entails could be an issue, especially for military service members. It is easy to violate Operations Security, or OPSEC on Social Media without the user realizing it. Privacy controls are available to shield personal information, but these controls are not as private as one would think. Anyone can hack into a Social Media account, in fact, The New York Daily News reported, "Facebook hack attacks strike