Page 15 - Coespu 2018-3

Police can use social media reactively to address immediate security concerns. In unstable or
politically divided areas, online communications have been used to spread hateful rumors that
5
foment anger and incite violence, setting back long-term stability. Where possible, police should
use social media as an attempted corrective to these rumors early on. Police may face challenges
in impacting public perception where there is low confidence in policing, but law enforcement
should take reactive measures to establish facts on the ground and reduce fear where events are
6
misunderstood or misreported by journalists. Social media can also be used in more proactive
ways that reflect offline policing and provide a narrative for the public about who the police are
and how they are working to provide security. Police can publicize ordinary policing activities and
7
highlight productive work in the community, as well as highlight opportunities for the community
to interact with police, inviting communities into a two-way interaction with police both online or
offline. Finally, social media provides an additional avenue to elicit information from the public
about missing people, suspected individuals, or other tips to solve crimes that can be used to
support broad policing objectives. When there is a wide gap between how communities experience
policing and how policing is portrayed online, communities may perceive police narratives on
social media more as propaganda than a valuable service. To remedy this, police should aim for
transparency in the way they represent themselves online, communicating honestly about
challenges associated with their work and indicating areas for improvement. Transparent
communication establishes police credibility because it shows that police have a sense of their
shortcomings and are
realistic about areas for
improvement. Police have
discretion about how and
when they share areas for
improvement, but this can
help police communicate
their narratives and
contextualize heavy-handed
police action that often
creates new grievances and
jeopardizes the public’s
confidence in policing.
Police manage their social
media presence in various
ways. Many police forces
rely on one social media or
public relations coordinator - often not a police officer - to handle all of the police’s social media
presence. Others give a range of policing leaders control over social media who then encourage
content from police personnel that reflects activities in a specific neighborhood or region. In
peacekeeping contexts, it is vital that social media content reflects a wide range of policing
perspectives and that police communicate their activities and priorities in a language that is

13