The Police and the Press

40 H Sheriff® July/August 2013

SOCIAL MEDIA

We speak often in law enforcement about the advantages of leveraging technology, and one of the least expensive, yet most valuable tools we have available to us is social media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Myspace are all free. Free to use, and free to access, with a base start-up cost of a smart- phone and internet access.

Already 81% of federal agencies, 71% of state agencies and 82% of local agencies are using social media in a wide variety of ways: public relations, community outreach, soliciting crime tips, recruitment, and investigations & crime solving. agencies serving smaller populations and with fewer sworn personnel use social media more often, because it serves as a force multiplier: one person can perform several agency goals all at the same time, sitting at one desk.1 Posting on the internet takes only a few moments, but the messaging can be, and often is, accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week -- long after the workday and workweek are over.

Clearly we can reach more residents than ever before, through social media: more than 86% of Americans are cell phone owners (45% of them are smart phones). The combina- tion of mobile technology with social networking is changing the way everybody communicates (including criminals). We can take video or photos from our iPhones or Androids and upload onto YouTube, Twitter or Facebook within moments. We no longer need a landline or a computer, already 25% of internet users are mobile users only. 2

For context, an average of 5 billion text messages per day are sent and delivered. There are 40 million photos posted on Instagram every day. And to under- stand the changing demographics in this economy, NBC Latino recently reported that young Hispanic and Latino Americans spent $17.6 billion on mobile devices and over $500 million on mobile apps in the first half of 2012.3 Perhaps the most dynamic use of social media is in investiga- tions and crime-solving, some uses are worthy of review, with specific examples to demonstrate usefulness:

A. Post notices and photos to locate missing persons of identify suspects What do you think happened when Timothy Alben,

Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the following statement in a press conference one day after the Boston marathon bombing:

Social Media in Law Enforcement By Sheriff Rich Stanek, Hennepin County, Minnesota

There has to be hundreds, if not thousands, of photo- graphs, videos or observations that were made down at that finish line yesterday. And I would encourage you to bring forward anything – you might not think it’s significant, but it might have some value to this investigation.

In Boston, the new wave of “citizen cybersleuths” and “crowdsleuthers” provided more than 1 million images and over 1000 hours of video footage to the authorities, including the images of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev that were posted on the FBI website, leading to tips to their identity and personal histories.4

From the FBI Website

Sheriff® July/August 2013 H 41

SOCIAL MEDIA

In fact, Americans are fighting terrorism through social media. We need their help, because extremists are using social media platforms to identify, groom, radicalize, and communi- cate with each other. They have been uploading video for years, and posting photos of imprisoned extremists with captions glorifying their crimes.

B. Gather photos or statements as evidence or to corroborate evidence In January, 2012, officers from Brooklyn Park were

dispatched to a hotel to evict a loud party, and found numerous people present, and two in the bathroom with the door closed. After ordering them out of the bathroom, officers found a handgun partially covered by towels, and arrested them both. Our analysts found that one of them had previously posted a

picture of himself on Facebook holding a gun matching the one recovered in the bathroom. The photo was forwarded to investigators to assist in establishing a link between the gun and the arrested party.

Facebook Photo

C. To establish probable cause In November, 2011 the Hennepin County Violent Offender

Task Force obtained a search warrant based on evidence contained in pictures posted on Facebook of two suspects with a handgun. Both were known violent offenders. The search warrant led to the discovery of a handgun matching the gun in the Facebook photo. In fact, one of the arrestees was wearing the same shirt at the time of the arrest.

Facebook Photo

D. Search on social media sites and monitor accounts to look for on-line clues left by criminals and/or victims Checking social media networks for information is now

routine investigative work. Given the name of a possible suspect or victim, we will of course check to see if they have a Twitter of Facebook account, and we will network for clues and associations.

In February 2011, our Criminal Information Sharing & Analysis Unit (“CISA”) was contacted with a request to find a current phone and address for a victim of identity theft, we searched Facebook and learned the victim no longer lived in Minnesota. We used our HCSO Facebook page to send the victim a message and he was able to get in touch with the Detective handling the case.

E. Search/monitor social media to identify crime or the location of criminal activity Both criminals and law enforcement are becoming more

sophisticated. Gangs use social media to brag and fuel rival- ries by “cyber-tagging” or provoking rival gangs – referred to as “Electronic Gang Warfare” in the Chicago Crime Commission’s, The Gang Book. And police follow the web chatter. They have found that gangs use social media to recruit and intimidate their own members. Recently in Chicago, gangs were using Facebook to find out where school skippers were hanging out so they could show up and recruit new members.5

CISA uses social media to establish associates, gang names and clothing, monikers and vehicles for known criminals and violent offenders currently under investigation. We monitor Facebook postings following significant events such as shoot- ings or gang fights to gather additional information.

42 H Sheriff® July/August 2013

SOCIAL MEDIA

are used for predictive analysis, to develop trends or collect information.

CISA monitored OccupyMN as it tweeted and posted their organizing and training meetings. We monitored their prep- aration and plans; they are using Social Media as their force multiplier!

G. Search and monitor social media sites and accounts to anticipate crimes that may be occurring Following multiple violent incidents occurring on party

buses rented by minors, CISA began following party promoters’ Facebook pages for similar types of events. They forwarded the information to local agencies and have been successful in limiting minors’ access to the buses at certain scheduled stop locations, and some bus companies have canceled certain planned events.

We know that terrorists exploit new and alternative media like Facebook and YouTube to spread propaganda to supporters, but also operational and tactical guidance, and sometimes are used as gateways to radical forums and recruitment. Radicals recently were successful in recruiting Somali youth in the Minneapolis St. Paul area to become fighters for al-shabaab, a terrorist group with ties to Al-Qaeda. With that experience, we know that monitoring public social media sites is critical to the success of our community engagement efforts. We are actively working with community leaders not just to respond to, but to disrupt or even prevent potential acts of terrorism.

Above is a public internet image from TweetDeck; the image is used here only to demonstrate the features of a web crawler. The tweets above have never been associated with suspected criminal activity, and none of the persons represented in the photos are persons of interest to law enforcement.

F. To identify or monitor persons of interest and their associates One screen from a web crawler like TweetDeck can follow

several timelines and conversations and can search and monitor trends all at the same time.

Social Media monitoring tools like this one, or Netbase, Twitterfall, Trackur, SocialMention, SocialPointer and Plancast

Sheriff® July/August 2013 H 43

SOCIAL MEDIA

Endnotes

1 See, Infographic from PoliceOne.com and LexisNexis http:// www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-law-enforcement_b26250 (ac- cessed June 9, 2013).

2 Maranda Gibson, “Cell Phone Statistics: Updated 2012,” http://www.accuconference.com/blog/ (accessed June 17, 2013).

3 Kristian Ramos, “Uber-connected young Latinos spend billions on mobile, says new study,” http://nbclatino.com/2012/07/15 citing the report, “Hispanic Broadband Access: Making the Most of the Mobile, Connected Future,” published by the Hispanic Institute, July, 2012

4 Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. “Reddit and 4Chan Users Part of Massive Crowdsourced Terror Investigation,” The Internet Patrol, http:// www.theinternetpatrol.com (accessed June 14, 2013)

5 Frank Main, “Gangs using social media to spread violence,” Chicago Sun-Times, February, 28, 2012, http://www.suntimes.com/ news/metro/10256178-418/cyber-tagging-now-the-graffiti-of-the- internet (accessed June 17, 2013), and Russell Webster, “Ganging up on social media,” ConnectedCOPS.net, April 24, 2013, http://connected- cops.net/2013/04/24/ (accessed June 1, 2013)

6 See, New York Daily News, Thursday, February 23, 2012: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-02-23/news/31093115_1_new- rules-nypd-handschu-guidelines (accessed September 17, 2012).

www.policestickers.com

Put A Smile On Their Face! Our junior deputy sheriff badge stickers bring a smile to a child’s face no matter what the situation. Whether your deputies are responding to a domestic violence call, an automobile accident, a crisis situation, an emergency or visiting a school for just a few pennies per badge sticker they can make a child smile! Visit our website for prices or to see our many sticker designs that can be customized for your department.

Ideal for Community Events, Fairs, Festivals and School Activities.

Badge Stickers for Kids

Telephone: 508-892-1555 - Email: [email protected]

Cu st om

Pr in te

d

Social media: public or private? The First Amendment protects the right of anyone to post

on social media sites, but once a statement is made, it’s as public as if it had been published in a newspaper. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t protect these statements from being used as evidence, because there is no expectation of privacy.

Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and others all can be ordered by a court to produce previous statements (even if they have been “deleted.”) Subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants all can be obtained for electronic evidence, and Facebook has a dedicated 24 hour Help Line for law enforcement.

Agencies should consider adopting protocols and estab- lishing best practices for using Social Media, especially for trolling and monitoring purposes.

The New York Police Department’s “Modified Handschu Guidelines” were the outcome of litigation settled in 1985 about the Police Department’s surveillance of Muslim commu- nities, and how the police can monitor political groups. The Court found that “An individual’s or organization’s political, religious, sexual, or economic performance may not be the sole basis upon which the (police intelligence division) develops a file…on that individual or organization. A 3-member panel was set up to oversee NYPD surveillance operations.

Subsequent to 9/11, in 2003, the Rules were modified to allow the NYPD Intelligence Chief to act alone to authorize investigations for one year at a time, authorize undercover oper- ations for four months at a time, and requires the Chief to have facts that “reasonably indicate” a future crime.6

Agencies and protocols adopted in New York City and the Georgia BCA and elsewhere require officers and analysts to register aliases with their supervisors and seek authorization before using WebCrawlers. Be sure and check with your County Attorney regarding any state laws that may apply, or best prac- tices that should be followed. J

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.