User:BeanieBabie01/Use of social network websites in investigations

How Police use social media:
In 2015 the international Association of Chiefs of Police reported that about 94% of police agencies have some form of Facebook related strategy in place. Among other things, this includes using Facebook to encourage a more positive perception of the police and monitor public gatherings. Social media is considered public space, therefore anything posted is considered public, unless you set your privacy settings to private, and don't accidentally accept friend requests from undercover police. This means that if you post something on Facebook or twitter, police have access to it and have the right to use and monitor it. Police may use tactics such as "Ghosting" where they create undercover profiles and friend requesting suspects in order to keep a closer eye on the daily lives of those suspects. This helps them know when large gatherings are going to occur and possibly increase police presence in that area to ensure public safety. these tactics provide police with otherwise unavailable information on key suspects and people of interest while taking up less time, money and resources. In 2020, when asked police mentioned Facebook (And Facebook live), Instagram, Myspace, Periscope, Xbox Live with Friends, and YouTube. They would be on the lookout for planned gatherings or post flashing guns or weaponry as well as sudden escalation of violence.

In addition to monitoring criminals, police can use social media to seek assistance from their communities. one such example is with missing persons or wanted suspects. In 2019, Police in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) posted on twitter seeking help locating four missing children. their post was shared over 300 times and the children were located and returned home. Between the year 2017 and 2019, 373 posts were made by 15 police agencies in Canada. They used a technique called crowdsourcing to gather more information for their investigations and create interactive communities of citizens who are ready to participate and engage when communicated with. They have a tendency to prefer Facebook and Twitter due to the ease of liking and sharing their posts. Police also use social media to inform citizens of possible safety issues and take control of the media coverage of investigations. They share press releases, recorded interviews, mug shots and status updates on ongoing investigations. Their tendency to post before stories go public leads to a better control of the flow of information as well as journalist relying on police pages as quick and reliable resources.