Impact of Facebook on Law Enforcement - Essay Sample

Introduction

Law enforcement officers may utilize this information and use it to catch criminals. However, not all information in the social media platforms concerning criminals is true and correct. Some of it may be misleading not only to the police officers but also to the public. Fake news from social media threatens officers of law enforcement. Law enforcement faces an increasing number of arrest resist cases, physical assaults of the officer, and murders that target the police. The increased criminal behaviors are encouraged by social and news media false reporting that all officers are racists.

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According to FBI data crime, Rochester is one of the most dangerous cities in New York upstate. In the FBI report, the number of murders, rape cases, theft, and other crimes was considered (Kim et al., 20170. Some of the murders committed in Rochester were committed by law enforcement officers, where in most cases, the victims were innocents. The killing of innocents by the police sparked a series of outcry in social media, which lead to public protests. The use of Facebook by the law has become an everyday norm in many police departments, to help curb criminal activities.

Conducting Internet Research

Value of Conducting Internet Research through FacebookInternet research is of great importance to police departments in that it helps them in their activities of maintaining law and order to the public. Law enforcement departments across the US, especially in New York, are increasingly adopting social media to help identify and curb criminal activities. The most used social media platform by these law-enforcing departments is Facebook. It is commonly used because of its vast number of users who have accounts on it. Most people use Facebook for different reasons, such as to promote their businesses, for entertainment purposes, for socializing, and even to get and pass information. For this reason, police use of Facebook makes it an excellent platform to give security information and gather information from.

The use of Facebook by the police helps them to gather information about masses at a go. This is made possible by the use of location sharing. In the criminal activity, those who have been victims of the activities may take to their social media platforms and post about the incident wherein a short time reaches a significant number of people. Police officers may also use their department's social media accounts and their ones and warn the public of criminals in a particular vicinity so that the public may take necessary actions for their safety.

Fundamental Tool

Notably, Facebook is a fundamental tool for alerting the public about missing children quickly. For instance, New York law enforcement officers can post a missing child or person's picture and information about the loss. Since Facebook has many users, the shared data is passed to many at once. Anyone who sees or finds the disappeared persons are requested to inform the local police to follow up on their information's authenticity. This helps the department offer good service to the public as they have to ensure citizens' well-being.

More imperatively, police departments across New York Facebook are an economically significant approach to informing the community about current events (Rost et al., 2016). Generally, law enforcement agencies issue warnings and share real-time information that protects the public in emergencies such as weather events. In terrible weather occurrences or even anticipation of worse weather conditions, police take into Facebook where they pass their alert to the general public. The public, therefore, takes on the precautionary measures that have been put aside to ensure their safety.

Police departments use Facebook to solicit public support in reporting crimes to authorities in higher offices. Intelligence gathering is vital when using Facebook, which calls for more training to police departments, essential in online sites. From an investigative perspective, police officers should be trained on collecting intelligence from social media outlets, and guidance should be provided on how evidence can be ordered legally and ethically from the online sites. Facebook quickly conveys quick information to large groups of people, hence faster awareness of large crowds. It has terms and conditions used and is conversant to people in considerable masses; accordingly, its usage is guided to avoid clashing with the authority.

Facebook plays an essential role in conducting criminal investigations due to its public nature. It is used to identify suspects and suspected gang squads who steal guns to sell and other property not meant for ordinary people’s general use. Facebook is a valuable source for apprehending sex offenders (Kim & Mohr, 2017). A detective may form a false personal profile or a pseudo account and join online groups where sexual offenders prey on minors or the pedophiles. Transcripts of web communicators between child predators and criminal investigators can be used as evidence in court.

Facebook has changed drastically, and location sharing has become a popular thing among users. Location sharing, which links large and videos to an exact location, is a helpful instrument for suspect finding by officers (Rost et al., 2016). Credits to location tagging, officers can look for Crime-prone spots and gain photographic evidence from scenes of crime.

Preparation for Security Event

A video circulated online on social media platforms showing Rochester's police officers engaging a black man they were trying to put into protective custody by pinning him to the ground while restraining him. A few days later, the man's death leads to protests; three officers were left injured after engaging with the group of people that were protesting. Over 2000 protesters were gathered in Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park for several hours. The protests were mostly peaceful; the protestors were chanting together, listening to music, and talking about what they were to march for (Kim et al., 2017). When the protests started, and the protestors headed to Court Street, police Department Officers of Rochester and metal barriers met them. Chaos erupted when the protesters began shouting at the police and throwing plastic bottles at them. The police responded by spraying tear gas and firing pepper balsas—using the public address system to demand the crowds to leave the area. Later on, Rochester police used social media to release two videos, describing the tear gas use and the other fireworks thrown at police (Patton et al., 2017).

Conclusion

Social and news media research provides individuals with platforms for communication during disasters. Weather conditions information, number of injuries occurred, and subjects could post other medical conditions. Data gathering in times of a live disaster to respond to emergencies relies on the person’s validity. People are quick to use handles, especially on twitter leading to media platforms of individuals to engage themselves online with whom these events occur. Americans have witnessed online fake news reports such as twitter, and the majority of them stated that they shared the fake news with their friends. A gap in knowledge of counterfeit news effects on police is being reviewed.

References

Hall, A. V., Hall, E. V., & Perry, J. L. (2016). Black and blue: Exploring racial bias and law enforcement in the killings of unarmed black male civilians. American Psychologist, 71(3), 175.
https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2016-15883-001

Kim, K., & Mohr, A. O. N. E. (2017). 2016 Law enforcement use of social media survey. A Joint Publication by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Urban Institute, 1-22.
http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/88661/2016-law-enforcement-use-of-social-media-survey.pdf

Nguyen, M. T., & Gill, H. (2016). Interior immigration enforcement: The impacts of expanding local law enforcement authority. Urban Studies, 53(2), 302-323.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042098014563029

Patton, D. U., Brunton, D. W., Dixon, A., Miller, R. J., Leonard, P., & Hackman, R. (2017). Stop and frisk online: theorizing everyday racism in digital policing in the use of social media for identification of criminal conduct and associations. Social Media+ Society, 3(3), 2056305117733344.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305117733344

Rost, K., Stahel, L., & Frey, B. S. (2016). Digital social norm enforcement: Online firestorms in social media. PLoS One, 11(6), e0155923.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155923.