Running head: POLICY DEVELOPMENT 1
Policy Development
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
POLICY DEVELOPMENT 2
Policy Development
Introduction
For the past few decades, social media has become extensive and therefore touching the
lives of numerous people across the globe, including law enforcement organizations. Most of the
public organizations often come across various problems when using social media to involve and
further communicate quickly to the community at large. There are multiple dangers and rewards
in which officers using social media come along, together with their units. Mistakes in using
social media can jeopardize the welfare of officers and affect criminal cases. It can also bring
about humiliation to departments and disclosure to public and felonious charges. Obligating the
law enforcement organizations to become accustomed to the social media channels that distress
law implementers in their daily activities minimize such risks (Social Media and Tactical
Considerations for Law Enforcement. It.ojp.gov., 2020). Therefore, police units must
comprehend the best practices of using social media, their assistance to law implementation, the
challenges they may encounter, and the need to create principles governing the officers’ media
use. The research presentation analyzes the best practices that are related to the police officers’
social media usage and the development of department policy.
Although entirely all the law enforcement agency forces are gradually challenged by
social media in their day-to-day activities, the methods and promptness of incorporation of social
media for policing differ significantly. As recent research showed, special police forces in
various European states are now actively using social media. In some countries, law enforcement
organizations are still determining better policies to handle social media in their line of duty.
Accordingly, through the research, much interest in case studies and best practice reports have
been seen. Various states in the contemporary world have been embracing social media
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platforms and obtained leading practices. In contrast, others deliberate undertaking the same
direction. The subject offers a platform for the discourse of the finest performs to be applied.
There are persistent considerations on social media and policing that traverse diverse
aspects. One of the deliberations is that law enforcement organizational forces can use evidence
on social media to back up their preliminary investigations. Currently, conventional procedures
for police tasks such as the use of secret investigations are presently being modernized and
utilized through social media (Bullock, 2017). Even though this kind of social media practice
requires training, it does not establish the last modification in the distinctiveness of police forces.
As an alternative, it spreads prevailing practice to a different sector. Further, police forces ought
to involve the social media platform to interrelate with the public so that they can strengthen the
bond.
Using Social Media as a Source of Criminal Information
Plenty of illegal evidence is readily accessible on social media to be used by law
enforcers for their investigations. This research from these platforms requires an authorized
setting. Law enforcement transmits prevailing protocols that relate to police activities in physical
spaces together with secret tasks to the cybernetic space. The difficulty and procedure on how to
acquire information from network providers are different for each of the linkages. Information
about offenders and crimes found online has shown to be valuable for police operations. To
perform maneuvers on social media, police forces, handover, and apply rules that outline their
present exertion to the fundamental setting of social media.
Having a Voice in Social Media
Even though there are diverse and definite methods of applying social media in the police
department, the main essence is the over-all perception of utilizing the platform as a
POLICY DEVELOPMENT 4
communication device with the community and thus creating a police existence and opinion on
social media. Although this idea is presently on use only in specific forces and nations, the
mainly satisfactory community reaction and the positive outcomes make clear that police forces
work on creating their voice on social media the most significant practice in itself. Law
enforcement organizations that are lively on social media are capable of challenging several
persistent matters that connect to the growing use of social media and their significance in the
lives of citizens.
Using Social Media to Share Information
The use of media, particularly with the younger age band, has moved from radio and
television to social media. In this regard, law enforcers have a challenge of circulating messages
to audiences and, therefore, progressively have to use social media when they require connecting
to specific civilians. Social media hence offer the opportunity for police forces to issue
information on their own without the reporters as the intermediary and share the information to a
considerable number of people. The primary and perhaps most candid use of the online platform
as a communication device for the police is to distribute their information on social media
accounts that citizens can subscribe to and obtain information.
Relying on the indigenous acceptance of different social nets, the police forces
interviewed during the research were either on one of the media platforms. Even though there are
a wide variety of webs existing, selecting most used networks lets a police force to reduce the
upkeep struggles when getting the most significant number of individuals. Furthermore, police
forces have been using social media for publishing photos and videos. This kind of action is
commonly related to the communications section making social media turn into a supplementary
POLICY DEVELOPMENT 5
passage of information that organizes the media announcements or the website of a law
enforcement organization.
Using Social Media to Leverage the Wisdom of the Crowd
The use of social media platforms typically allows police forces to obtain information
from citizens. As soon as distributing information to designated audiences who then additionally
share the communications with their specific individuals, law enforcement personnel get to
connect to numerous persons that can obtain data. Recognizing suspects or delivering search
permits on social media has been extremely useful for police forces. It is crucial not to handle the
received information digitally. Even though issuing search warrants and requesting the general
public for assistance is a standard police exercise, the platform of social media conveys an
influential control to this prevailing practice.
Using Social Media for Community Policing
Community policing is an idea that recommends a tight relationship among the law
enforcement agency, the general public, and involved stakeholders to intensify security for the
people. Policing, therefore, is a joined effort of different public actors and not the police alone.
Community policing necessitates police officers on an indigenous level to create an individual
and close association with resident groups (Peyton et al., 2019). Social media reinforces
community policing. Moreover, police forces have increased their community policing
determinations to online societies. A specific person is permitted to connect and share
information with other people; more significant developments come from preparations and
networks that arise impulsively and which are difficult to regulate and predict. This technique of
work frequently challenges how police forces have a habit of working. Bound to lawful and
POLICY DEVELOPMENT 6
practical contexts, a firm order and reliable chains of command, police organizations,
conventionally, are planned top-down.
Conclusion
Deductively, it is quite evident that law implementation commissioners need to create a
suitable control on the best means to use social media. Applying various techniques can help
develop more benefits and decrease the occurrences of misappropriation by officers. The benefits
can be achieved by putting in place principles for social media use and preparing the police on
the policies before implementation. Through following the regulations put forward, the system
can accomplish the perspective of using social media as a rule implementation device that can
assist the police sector to better work for the public.
POLICY DEVELOPMENT 7
References
Bullock, K. (2017). The Police Use of Social Media: Transformation or Normalization? Social
Policy and Society, 17(2), 245-258. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474746417000112
Peyton, K., Sierra-Arévalo, M., & Rand, D. (2019). A field experiment on community policing
and police legitimacy. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, 116(40),
19894-19898. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910157116
Social Media and Tactical Considerations for Law Enforcement. It.ojp.gov. (2020). Retrieved 25
July 2020, from https://it.ojp.gov/AT/Resource/158.
