Social media and law enforcement

Today, public safety is a bit more sophisticated, and methods of communication much faster.

Law enforcement tools have evolved from wanted posters to police radio, patrol cars and social

networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Community policing today has also

expanded through social networking to locate missing children, alert neighbors of suspicious

activity and even inform the public about crimes committed in their neighborhoods.

According to Lipschultz 2017 is that social networking is a tool that cuts both ways. Flash mobs

organized online in Philadelphia swarmed stores to shoplift and attack pedestrians; pedophiles

use social networking platforms to share photos and video; and terrorists recruit members and

plan attacks via these tools. Even the courts have been affected. Jurors have disregarded

instructions and have conducted online research, shared their opinions on Twitter from the jury

box, and even posted biased comments on their Facebook pages.

But social media is having a positive impact, too. The platforms can be used by law enforcement

to broaden intelligence gathering and leverage public support. “We had a very clear example of

the importance of that this summer,” said Sgt. Sean Whitcomb of the Seattle Police Department,

“when a person became aware of a plot to kill soldiers and civilians at a military processing

center with automatic weapons and grenades.”

Social networking rapidly has become a valuable intelligence-gathering tool for law enforcement

agencies, as well as a source of evidence for defense and prosecution personnel who search

Facebook pages, Twitter feeds or YouTube videos seeking to discredit witnesses, establish law

enforcement bias, track down evidence or establish associations between gang members. Often,
perpetrators brag about their crimes on social networks, and child pornographers and sexual

predators have been located and apprehended as a result of their online activities.

Mistrials also have occurred because jurors have disregarded instructions and researched cases

online, used Twitter to share their opinions from the jury box, or have posted biased comments

on their Facebook pages. For example, in late 2010 during the Chandra Levy murder trial, a

prospective juror was dismissed for using Twitter to discuss the case. And in another case, a

juror in California was discovered blogging details of a murder case during the trial.

Although social media can help enlist public support, it also can turn on a dime and do the

opposite, due in part to the casual nature of the media. In a wake-up call for law enforcement, an

Albuquerque, N.M., police officer involved in an on-duty shooting brought discredit to himself

and his department when reporters discovered that he listed his occupation as “human waste

disposal” on a Facebook profile. And in several high-profile cases, officers’ actions have been

posted on YouTube, receiving hundreds or even thousands of negative comments.

Law enforcement agencies around the country may see social media as a double-edged sword,

but it’s here to stay and must be placed in the tool belts of officers and departments.

According to Grimmelmann, is that even without access to back-end data, police departments

have persisted with social mining. In the last couple of months alone, law enforcement officials

have proposed efforts to use social monitoring to identify potential school shooters and secure

borders using readily available information from users' news feeds.

Police departments should continue to monitor social media to inform law enforcement. After

all, social media sites are full of data that can make police interventions more effective, from

posts about crimes in progress to damning evidence offered freely by criminals and even live
videos of crimes. However, in designing these initiatives, police departments need to pay closer

attention to the Constitution as well as the needs of citizens.

For one, law enforcement agencies must place more emphasis on privacy. The Fourth

Amendment protects citizens from warrantless searches in areas in which they have a reasonable

expectation of privacy. For example, police can’t search someone’s house without a compelling

reason that justifies a search warrant, because citizens expect to have privacy in their homes.

Do citizens have a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding social media posts? One might

think that because this information may be publicly available to anyone on the internet, users

would abandon any privacy expectations when posting, liking a page, or checking into a

location. And yet, while they might expect their friends to see a few of their posts, very few users

expect someone to track every single piece of their social media activity over the course of a

week, month, year, or longer—as police departments often do with social mining. While not yet

accepted by the Court, under the “mosaic theory,” while one social post might be public, citizens

have a reasonable expectation of privacy over the whole of their social media activity during an

extended period.

According to Brunty,(2014) is that fact is, Facebook is helping to catch criminals. Sometimes,

police can get tips from suspect’s friends after the suspect inevitably brags about their deviant

behavior on the social networking site. Other times, detectives can gather evidence from pictures

or videos posted on sites like Instagram and YouTube.

Even more valuable, though, is the ability to track and gain insight into a suspect's mentality,

simply by monitoring their posts. Because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy when
you willingly post online, all of these activities are subject to scrutiny. It means that cops can use

social media sites to gather valuable intelligence on suspected criminals.

Social media also provides an avenue to help humanize police departments and show that law

enforcement officers are also members of the community they serve. Social media can be an

effective way for agencies to highlight their officers' accomplishments, make announcements

regarding enforcement campaigns, and provide messages about safety.

Job applicants for law enforcement and other sensitive positions would be well advised to clean

up their social networking pages in advance, even before applying. During the application

process, many departments will have an investigator sit down with the applicant and have them

log into their Facebook page.

Social media can used as a tool for law enforcement. Although sometimes it has issues with the

same law and therefore important for the law enforcers to keep a close look to the social media

tracking and keeping it safe. The law enforcer should ensure that social media users are taken to

court if they go against the law.

Reference list

Lipschultz, J. H. (2017). Social media communication: Concepts, practices, data, law and ethics.

Taylor & Francis.

Brunty, J., & Helenek, K. (2014). Social media investigation for law enforcement. Routledge.

Grimmelmann, J. (2015). The law and ethics of experiments on social media users. Colo. Tech.

LJ, 13, 219.

AFRICA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY

TASK: TOPIC OF CHOICE

UNIT: MEDIA LAW

UNIT CODE: COM 304

STUDENT: VINCENT KIMANTHI NDAMBUKI

STUDENT ID: 17G01AMC044

LECTURER: STEVE SANYA

DUE DATE; 11TH MARCH 2020