Promoting Community Policing through Social Media and Big Data Tools

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

In 2014, President Obama issued an executive order to establish the Task Force on 21st Century Policing in response to numerous incidents between law enforcement and communities. After a comprehensive review of current knowledge and practice, the task force made concrete recommendations to the President on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust. One of the recommendations was to adopt model policies and best practices for technology-based community engagement, such as social media, that increase community trust and involvement. To that end, the Urban Institute and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services have convened a panel of researchers and practitioners to discuss how law enforcement agencies’ use of social media is shaped by agency policies and practices and how information disseminated by law enforcement agencies is diffused and exchanged through social media networks.

Sub Unit

• Area VIII. Policing / 46. Police Technologies (communications, alternatives to lethal force)

Individual Presentations

• Real Stories: The Task Force on 21st Century Policing’s Vision for Social Media Engagement - Laurie Robinson, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University, Co-Chair of the White House Task Force on 21St Century Policing and Assistant Attorney General; Thomas Nestel III, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Transit Police

• A National Portrait of Law Enforcement Agencies’ Social Media Engagement - Ashlin Oglesby-Neal, The Urban Institute; Edward Mohr, The Urban Institute

• The Power of Word-of-Mouth Communications: Social Network Analysis on Social Media Engagement by Law Enforcement - KiDeuk Kim, Urban Institute; Emily Tiry, The Urban Institute

Chair

• John Kim, COPS Office