Social Medias Law Enforcement
Social Medias Law Enforcement
Police work has always been a very exciting and interesting topic. Most of the time it
doesn’t matter who is standing next to you at the party, when the topic of profession comes up
you seem to find yourself at the center of attention. I mean yeah it’s nice to be a doctor or a
project manager; however, when people hear you’re police officer they start to glow with
excitement and here come the “have you ever…” questions. It’s no wonder that that police work
has always been somewhat of a public occupation; however, the early 1990’s changed law
enforcement forever with the widespread use of the internet (Waters, 2012).
With the evolvement of social media in 2003, law enforcement has struggled with its
public image more than ever (Waters, 2012). Social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace,
Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram have made it extremely easy for anyone subscribed to their site
to share comments, pictures, and videos with billions of people around the world. With the
invention and widespread use of smartphones and tablets everyone has immediate access to a
camera with video and sound recording capabilities and instant access to social networking with
the ability to post whatever content they choose to. I’m sure one could have only imagined what
According to an article, The Brief History of Social Media, written by Dr. Anthony
Curtis with the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, social media are internet sites that
allow people to interact freely by sharing and discussing information about each other and their
lives, using a multimedia mix of personal words, pictures, videos, and audio. These sites appear
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in many different forms including blogs, forums, social networks, virtual worlds, and podcast
portals.
In 2002, a social networking site called Friendster was opened to the public in the United
States and within 3 months it reached 3 million users. In 2003, social networking began to grow
with the launch of MySpace, a clone to Friendster. Social networking continued to grow and in
2004 Facebook was born. Facebook was originally opened to college students who attended
Harvard University, and was referred to as the college version of Friendster. Another social
networking site geared for sharing and viewing videos called YouTube made its debut in 2005.
Facebook later opened up to high school students and in 2006 finally reached out to anyone over
the again of 13. Also in 2006, social networking obtained another site which would be called
Twitter, allowing users to send and receive messages called tweets. (Curtis, 2013)
In 2007, Apple a major computer manufacture released a multimedia and internet smart
phone called the iPhone. The iPhone’s operating system is uses applications which are more
commonly referred to as apps. With Facebook allowing third-party developers to create apps,
social networking sites are now delivered straight to the fingertips of their users by means of
their cell phones. Along with Facebook, many other social media sites have made their sites
available to their users via apps on their cell phones. (Curtis, 2013)
In 2009, Facebook was ranked the world’s most-used social network side with more than
200 million users. Facebook grew to have more than 400 million users by 2010 and Apple
released a new computer tablet device with multimedia and internet capabilities called the iPad.
In 2010, social networks were so popular that the Democratic National Committee advertised a
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position for a social networks manager to manage President Barak Obama’s accounts on
By 2011, social media became a vital part of our daily lives with more than 550 million
Facebook users, 65 million tweets sent each day using Twitter, and 2 billion videos being viewed
on YouTube every day. “Social media commerce was on the rise along with mobile social
media via smartphones and tablet computers. Public share of so much personal information via
By 2012, 2 billion people worldwide use the internet and social media. It is estimated
that by 2015 the number of internet users would double to 4 billion users. Facebook reached a
billion users on its own. YouTube has more than 800 million users that watch over a trillion
videos a year. Approximately 70 percent of users that watch videos on YouTube come from
outside the United States and 72 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. As of
2013, YouTube has 1 billion users who view about 4 billion videos a day. Facebook has 1.11
billion users to Twitter’s 500 million registered users. Social media continues to gain popularity
as tweets are being sent by Astronauts on the International Space Station to a global audience.
(Curtis, 2013)
With the growing popularity of social media and the huge number of users, coupled with
the public excitement of law enforcement, it is no wonder police work has become such a hot-
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topic on social networking sites. With the speedy access to cameras and social networking sites
it takes just a few seconds to record a police encounter and post it to billions of people around
the world. Not only can someone post these videos, but with today’s technology they can edit
and post only the portions they want seen. This can wreak havoc on a police department’s public
and law enforcement has caused new types of police Photo posted on www.worldwideinterweb.com a site
for viewing photos and videos.
encounters to be born. These are situations that pose
great potential dangers to officers and innocent bystanders, while the people doing so believe
they are completely in the right. There are videos posted on YouTube or other social networking
sites of people approaching officers while on traffic stops or other types of contacts just to see
how they will react. Here in the last few years with the controversy over gun rights and gun
control laws people have been approaching officers while carrying firearms to see if their rights
will be violated. These people then post videos on YouTube and similar sites like the video,
How to Invoke Your Rights with the Police, that was posted on YouTube by DanceRooster on
January 23rd, 2010, when he approached an officer on some type of police contact while carrying
a firearm. When the officer questioned him and requested his identification he refused to
provide it and only wanted to argue with the officer. This type of behavior not only divides the
officer’s attention from the original violator, which officers have always been taught is and can
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be a huge threat to their safety, but it places him in even more danger because now he has to
focus on the dangers these people are presenting by interfering and bringing a firearm to the
scene. In the video posted by DanceRooster the subject is aggressive toward the officer by
refusing to provide information and then as the officer walks off to make a phone call he chases
after him still trying to argue and prove his point. In the video, the person taking the recording is
heard yelling at the officer that he is going to post the recording onto the internet. Or where
others, like in a video posted on YouTube by obscuredtruth on September 6th, 2010 titled How to
Checkpoints to antagonize and harass police officers while trying to carry out their duties.
Not only do social media sites pose additional dangers to officers while on duty but “the
power of the Internet-social media on particular—has brought danger home to officers and their
families” (Waters, 2012). Personal information from public records has been available on online
for years; however, with social media making it easier to distribute and share information, the
dangers to officers and their families are increasing. As Captain Waters from the San
Bernardino, California Police Department said, in an article titled Social Media and Law
Enforcement: Potential Risks, “by increasing exposure of personal information, social media has
raised the threat level.” She went on to say that “social media can engender a mob mentality
wherein one small stimulus spurs a wide-scale reaction that feeds on itself and grows out of
control. Incidents develop faster, reach further, and spread more rapidly than anything society
has dealt with before.” Since social media has become a part of a large majority of people’s
daily routine, privacy concerns have developed due to the amount of personal information people
put on their social network profiles or give out over posts. Even though we, as police officers,
typically take precautions to protect ourselves from our personal information being distributed, it
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is still possible for the information to get out. With mobile smartphones, easy access to the
internet, and quick connections to almost any information at out fingertips it is very possible for
a violator to have our personal information pulled up on their cellphones by the time we can
return to their window to issue a ticket. Just by searching our names it is possible for an
individual to have access to photographs of our loved ones, our cars, and even our homes since
this information is stored on social media sites. “Outraged offenders easily could get to officers’
doorsteps before their patrol shifts end, leaving them unable to defend their homes and families”
(Waters, 2012). Some officers may say that is not be possible because they don’t have accounts
with social networking sites but what about their spouses, children, friends, and relatives? I’m
sure if you looked everyone has a close friend or relative who is an avid social media user.
Not only can social media pose a safety risk to officers and their families, but it can cause
huge problems for officers at work. I’m sure if you’ve worked at a police department for any
length of time you know that most officers have a very vulgar sense of humor and can say things
that others (non-police personnel) may find very offensive. So it’s no wonder that some officers
who have social network accounts have managed to find themselves in the limelight or even hot
Not long ago, I had an officer who I supervised find himself in that exact situation. The
whole situation came to light when a high ranking officer in the department received a new set of
daily pictures on a social networking site called The Chive. While scrolling through the photos
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he saw a familiar face and immediately knew who it was. An officer from my department was
sitting in his patrol car, in full uniform with the patch clearly visible, and a huge smile on his
face as he accepted a donut from the person taking the photo. This photograph had been
distributed around the world in seconds and later found itself on numerous other social
networking sites including Facebook. This photo was able to be viewed by billions of people in
just seconds. As you can imagine this unwanted publicity for our department didn’t make the
administration too happy. Now it wasn’t by any means the worst photograph, but it didn’t paint
our department in a good light either. The photo received numerous negative comments from
viewers. Former officers from our department who had also seen the photo had contacted
department personnel to voice concerns of how distastefully the photograph portrayed our
department. After speaking with the officer it was discovered that he didn’t post the photograph
and he was actually unaware that the picture was even taken. He said he didn’t know the photo
had been taken until he started receiving phone calls from friends who had seen the photo on a
social network site. My department, like most nowadays attempting to combat a bad public
image due to social media, has a social media policy prohibiting officers from posting
photographs in which they are wearing their uniform. If this officer had posted or been involved
in posting the picture he would have been in violation of departmental policy and could have
been disciplined. Since he didn’t know about it until after the fact, this officer was not
disciplined; however, still had to deal with the aftermath of the embarrassment.
Some officers aren’t as fortunate as this officer such as Officer Maria Gresham who
missed out on several promotion opportunities due to an on-going investigation into comments
she made on her private Facebook account about another officer who was involved in an arrest
she had made. Officer Gresham claimed that “she was not promoted in retaliation for her First
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Amendment speech on Facebook.” The 11th Circuit Court upheld the department’s discipline of
Officer Gresham (DiBianca, 2013). Other officers have lost credibility in court, found
themselves in the newspaper over comments, pictures, or videos they posted on their accounts,
and some have even lost their jobs. Even people who are only in the hiring process at a police
department have found their prospective careers debilitated by social media. A majority of law
enforcement agencies now use social network sites during the hiring process background
Social media can be a huge detriment to law enforcement and the officers that protect our
communities; however, it can also work to our advantage when treated properly. Departments
can use social media to detect and screen out unwanted applicants during the hiring process,
(those who could potentially pose a risk to the department). Investigators can also use the social
media as an investigative tool. Detectives can create undercover accounts to gather intel on
crimes and suspects. The NYPD even has a policy governing the creation of such online
accounts (Sterbenz, 2013). Using social media is a good way to gather information on the
identity and whereabouts of a suspect or even gain information about a particular crime. “The
Supreme Court has said police don’t need search warrants to get information you’ve already
a suspect had posted a photograph of himself and his accomplice in the building during the
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burglary. Even though he denied being involved, it’s nearly impossible to argue with a
photograph. No one ever said criminals were smart. Much like the two my old partner and I
arrested, Michael Baker from Kentucky posted a picture of himself committing a crime. Baker
Baker posted on Facebook again but this time to tell his friends he had just gotten out of jail and
How Law Enforcement can use Social Media as a Community Relations Tool
Facebook and other social media sites have proven to be very useful during
investigations; however, police departments can use them as a community relations tool in many
different ways. My department has even opened up its very own Facebook account, using it to
keep the city’s citizens up to date on current events throughout the police department and in the
city. This Facebook account is maintained by the department’s Public Information Officer who
has a close working relationship with the media and the public. The account is used to inform
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the public of self-defense courses that are sponsored by the police department, fun events such as
junior police academies and haunted houses for children held by the department, and public
or missing persons.
generating tool – Facebook” during a missing person case. The teenager was found safe the next
morning but during the investigation the police department used Facebook to distribute
information about the case. Within hours the Facebook page received approximately 7,440 hits
Chief James McCall from the New Frazeysburg Police Department is using social
networking for more than just keeping his citizens informed. Chief McCall is using Facebook to
have citizens send him Facebook messages, which are being delivered directly to his cell phone,
about crimes that are being committed in his jurisdiction. He wants his department activities “as
transparent as possible, with plans to post his department’s monthly activity report.” (Gadd
2013)
Conclusion
In conclusion, social media has grown exponentially over the last 10 years, especially
with the invention and use of smartphones and social media apps. Although many people see
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social networking sites as a good way to communicate with others about themselves and their
lives, they do have many negative aspects for law enforcement. With quick access to
smartphone cameras and social networking sites amateur reporters can record police encounters
and post only the portions they want seen, for billions of people to view and criticize. Not only
are people recording their own encounters with law enforcement but they are creating new
encounters which are making police officer’s jobs even more hazardous. Social media has made
police work not only a dangerous job while on duty, but it has increased the potential dangers to
officers while off duty, as well as increased risk to their families through quick and easy access
to personal information.
Officers have gotten themselves into difficult situations with their departments, courts,
and even the public due to the use of social networking sites. Some officers have been
disciplined, lost credibility in court, have lost promotions, and have even been terminated for
their private use of social networking sites. Some cases in which officers have been disciplined
have ultimately ended up in court, but even the courts are upholding some department’s
discipline of officers due to their conduct while on these sites. The best way for a department to
combat a bad public image due to social media, and to protect their officers is to implement a
policy strictly prohibiting comments, photographs, and videos involving the agency from being
Even though social media sites can cause a negative public image for law enforcement
agencies, headaches for police officers and police administration, or even cost someone their job,
they still have many positive aspects that police departments can benefit from. Social media
sites have proven to be great way to quickly share information with the public and gain valuable
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