Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2014 | Page 50

FORENSICS JOURNAL

Social Media Public Outreach: Is the Public
Playing a Role in the Criminal Justice Process?
Eric Shifflett
munity outreach. To date the IACP survey/studies do not provide
a clear profile of community outreach and social media use in law
enforcement. Research data findings in such an area currently rely on
smaller samples and case studies.

Social media use as a law enforcement tool is a recent phenomenon.
The Boston marathon investigation is a recent example of this public/
private collaboration. On April 17, 2013, the marathon festivities,
were cut short when two bombs detonated close to the finish line of
the Boston Marathon, causing damage to runners and onlookers alike.
By evening, three people were confirmed dead and 144 more were
being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital (Levs and Plott). In
order to counteract the ensuing chaos immediately after the explosions, law enforcement reached out to the public through social media,
provided up-to-date information about the investigation, corrected
misinformation to alleviate panic, and requested photos or footage
of the finish line from the public (McGovern). Partnering with the
public via social media assisted law enforcement agencies during the
manhunt and eventual capture of the two suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev
and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. This incident raises the question of whether
the positive results from public outreach over social media on a larger
scale benefit both the public and law enforcement as a whole?

One smaller scale case study conducted in 2012 focused on the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD). The research scope was limited to
arrests by the PPD through the use of community outreach on social
media. These “social media arrests” were made by posting information
about the crimes on the social media accounts owned by the department (“Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Police”). The primary social media
websites used by the Philadelphia Police Department were Facebook,
Twitter, and YouTube. The PPD’s social media public outreach begins
on YouTube with posting of a video and further dissemination to
other social networks (“Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Police”). The
social media methods used by the PPD are replacing or supplementing
the traditional methods used by law enforcement in the past. Traditional techniques included: speaking to news reporters, placing tips in
newspapers, holding press conferences, going door-to-door requesting
crime details, or spreading the pertinent information through CDROMs. The Philadelphia Police Department finds the new social
media outreach approach to be more effective and efficient than past
communication methods with the public. As the crime details are
an online link which is easily accessible to the public on social media,
the agency receives a greater number of tips about suspects still on the
loose (“Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Police”). Not only is the department obtaining a large amount of feedback, but it is also saving time
and money due to the relative ease of using social media and the lack
of service fees (“Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Police”). These statements
and details provided in the case study demonstrate that social media
methods of communicating with the public are effective in time,