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Police use of Social Media: (Increasing public trust and confidence in the…
Police use of Social Media:
Increasing public trust and confidence in the police
"Raise awareness of the diverse and complex role of policing, explaining how much time officers spend with non-crime matters"
Opening discussion around what the police are proposing to do and what the public thinks about it
"Good use of social media can help the Police to better understand, respond to, and attract the attention of specific audiences."
Enables two-way communication with people interested in engaging with the police
Seeks views from community members on issues affecting them
Enhances the reputation and accessibility of staff to their communities
Counter Argument-
Many of the followers of police twitter accounts are media organisations
Neighbourhood Policing encourages local police officers to be community facilitators
Political and criminological debates around neighbourhood policing, public accountability, police service has felt some pressure to develop new channels for communicating with the public
Social Media offers greater visibility for both senior and neighbourhood officers and they are means of advertising established media.
Enlistment of the public as jointly responsibly for crime reduction
London Riots:
Alleged that groups of looters were coordinating their activities using social media platforms
Police used social media to make public service announcements, refute ill-founded rumours of supposed incidents and reassure the public
Social media provided a platform for debate about police tactics, the motives of looters, underlying social issues, and the nature of the political response
Social Media were also a rich source of information for the established media including both print and television
Following the riots, government looked to banning access to social media for those suspected of planning disorder
This was opposed on the grounds of open information and practicality
Social Media had been an essential part of their communication and reassurance strategy during the disorder
Social Media is seen as a source of intelligence for policing
Social Media can be tools for knowledge sharing within policing organisations
Police guidance tends to discourage using Twitter rather than established channels for reporting crimes
Social Media are a source of real-time information about safety issues, such as road traffic collisions or continuing emergencies such as floods
Argument against Police using Social Media
Quan-Haase (2010) suggests social media is transient as a communication medium, creating challenges for organisations like the police whose mission is to maintain social stability
Officers are reminded of the need to protect the reputation of their force and not to say anything that would not be said at a public meeting
Police Officers are able to create a wide variety of messages ranging from official notifications, to informal messages in reports of current local activity, conversational exchanges with others officers and members of the public.
Twitter has been most effectively used in support of the traditional roles of the police as a source of appeals for information and a broadcaster of announcements
Social Media Uses:
Patrol
Reports of frontline policing activity, whether patrolling or carrying out follow up action following an arrest, the resolution of a situation, or the conclusion of a case
Information
Requests for information from the public
Partners
The development and management of partnership relations