Hashtag Supertroopers: The Use of Twitter as a Non-investigative Law Enforcement Tool

• In Event: Posters II

Abstract

The rise of social media has allowed law enforcement to adapt an existing technology for both investigative purposes as well as information sharing processes. Social media allows for police/public interaction that traditional methods of information sharing do not allow for.
The intent of the study is to answer the question of how law enforcement use twitter as a means of sharing information. Using Twitter, police agencies can create a social media identity free of mass media influence. The study hopes to examine how police agencies construct their self through 140 characters.
Three state police agencies located in the Northeast of the United States with active twitter accounts have been selected for the purposes of this study. A four month sample of each twitter feed will be coded into categories including: crime data, public safety, public interest, weather, and others as patterns emerge.
Twitter is a unique social media platform that allows for instantaneous dissemination of information and engagement with users. Decisions on how to use Twitter are left up to the user and law enforcement agencies have the ability to decide how they will share information, why they will share, and when the sharing will occur.

Author

• Casey L. Ryan, Hudson Valley Community College