2013

Social Media’s Law Enforcement

Sergeant Dustin Musteen

Rogers Police Department
School of Law Enforcement Supervision
11/1/2013
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Police work has always been a very exciting and interesting topic. Most of the time it

doesn’t matter who is standing next to you at the party, when the topic of profession comes up

you seem to find yourself at the center of attention. I mean yeah it’s nice to be a doctor or a

project manager; however, when people hear you’re police officer they start to glow with

excitement and here come the “have you ever…” questions. It’s no wonder that that police work

has always been somewhat of a public occupation; however, the early 1990’s changed law

enforcement forever with the widespread use of the internet (Waters, 2012).

With the evolvement of social media in 2003, law enforcement has struggled with its

public image more than ever (Waters, 2012). Social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace,

Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram have made it extremely easy for anyone subscribed to their site

to share comments, pictures, and videos with billions of people around the world. With the

invention and widespread use of smartphones and tablets everyone has immediate access to a

camera with video and sound recording capabilities and instant access to social networking with

the ability to post whatever content they choose to. I’m sure one could have only imagined what

kind of trouble this would later bring for law enforcement.

History of Social Media

According to an article, The Brief History of Social Media, written by Dr. Anthony

Curtis with the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, social media are internet sites that

allow people to interact freely by sharing and discussing information about each other and their

lives, using a multimedia mix of personal words, pictures, videos, and audio. These sites appear
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in many different forms including blogs, forums, social networks, virtual worlds, and podcast

portals.

In 2002, a social networking site called Friendster was opened to the public in the United

States and within 3 months it reached 3 million users. In 2003, social networking began to grow

with the launch of MySpace, a clone to Friendster. Social networking continued to grow and in

2004 Facebook was born. Facebook was originally opened to college students who attended

Harvard University, and was referred to as the college version of Friendster. Another social

networking site geared for sharing and viewing videos called YouTube made its debut in 2005.

Facebook later opened up to high school students and in 2006 finally reached out to anyone over

the again of 13. Also in 2006, social networking obtained another site which would be called

Twitter, allowing users to send and receive messages called tweets. (Curtis, 2013)

In 2007, Apple a major computer manufacture released a multimedia and internet smart

phone called the iPhone. The iPhone’s operating system is uses applications which are more

commonly referred to as apps. With Facebook allowing third-party developers to create apps,

social networking sites are now delivered straight to the fingertips of their users by means of

their cell phones. Along with Facebook, many other social media sites have made their sites

available to their users via apps on their cell phones. (Curtis, 2013)

In 2009, Facebook was ranked the world’s most-used social network side with more than

200 million users. Facebook grew to have more than 400 million users by 2010 and Apple

released a new computer tablet device with multimedia and internet capabilities called the iPad.

In 2010, social networks were so popular that the Democratic National Committee advertised a
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position for a social networks manager to manage President Barak Obama’s accounts on

Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. (Curtis, 2013)

By 2011, social media became a vital part of our daily lives with more than 550 million

Facebook users, 65 million tweets sent each day using Twitter, and 2 billion videos being viewed

on YouTube every day. “Social media commerce was on the rise along with mobile social

media via smartphones and tablet computers. Public share of so much personal information via

social media sites raised concern over privacy.” (Curtis, 2013)

By 2012, 2 billion people worldwide use the internet and social media. It is estimated

that by 2015 the number of internet users would double to 4 billion users. Facebook reached a

billion users on its own. YouTube has more than 800 million users that watch over a trillion

videos a year. Approximately 70 percent of users that watch videos on YouTube come from

outside the United States and 72 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. As of

2013, YouTube has 1 billion users who view about 4 billion videos a day. Facebook has 1.11

billion users to Twitter’s 500 million registered users. Social media continues to gain popularity

as tweets are being sent by Astronauts on the International Space Station to a global audience.

(Curtis, 2013)

The Detriment of Social Media on Law Enforcement

With the growing popularity of social media and the huge number of users, coupled with

the public excitement of law enforcement, it is no wonder police work has become such a hot-
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topic on social networking sites. With the speedy access to cameras and social networking sites

it takes just a few seconds to record a police encounter and post it to billions of people around

the world. Not only can someone post these videos, but with today’s technology they can edit

and post only the portions they want seen. This can wreak havoc on a police department’s public

image and the officer’s credibility.

Social media has not only damaged law

enforcement’s public image by posting photos and

videos of officers in a funny or inappropriate situations,

but social media has caused concern with officer safety

on and off duty. The relationship between social media

and law enforcement has caused new types of police Photo posted on www.worldwideinterweb.com a site
for viewing photos and videos.
encounters to be born. These are situations that pose

great potential dangers to officers and innocent bystanders, while the people doing so believe

they are completely in the right. There are videos posted on YouTube or other social networking

sites of people approaching officers while on traffic stops or other types of contacts just to see

how they will react. Here in the last few years with the controversy over gun rights and gun

control laws people have been approaching officers while carrying firearms to see if their rights

will be violated. These people then post videos on YouTube and similar sites like the video,

How to Invoke Your Rights with the Police, that was posted on YouTube by DanceRooster on

January 23rd, 2010, when he approached an officer on some type of police contact while carrying

a firearm. When the officer questioned him and requested his identification he refused to

provide it and only wanted to argue with the officer. This type of behavior not only divides the

officer’s attention from the original violator, which officers have always been taught is and can
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be a huge threat to their safety, but it places him in even more danger because now he has to

focus on the dangers these people are presenting by interfering and bringing a firearm to the

scene. In the video posted by DanceRooster the subject is aggressive toward the officer by

refusing to provide information and then as the officer walks off to make a phone call he chases

after him still trying to argue and prove his point. In the video, the person taking the recording is

heard yelling at the officer that he is going to post the recording onto the internet. Or where

others, like in a video posted on YouTube by obscuredtruth on September 6th, 2010 titled How to

Neutralize Police Checkpoints, intentionally go through Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)

Checkpoints to antagonize and harass police officers while trying to carry out their duties.

Not only do social media sites pose additional dangers to officers while on duty but “the

power of the Internet-social media on particular—has brought danger home to officers and their

families” (Waters, 2012). Personal information from public records has been available on online

for years; however, with social media making it easier to distribute and share information, the

dangers to officers and their families are increasing. As Captain Waters from the San

Bernardino, California Police Department said, in an article titled Social Media and Law

Enforcement: Potential Risks, “by increasing exposure of personal information, social media has

raised the threat level.” She went on to say that “social media can engender a mob mentality

wherein one small stimulus spurs a wide-scale reaction that feeds on itself and grows out of

control. Incidents develop faster, reach further, and spread more rapidly than anything society

has dealt with before.” Since social media has become a part of a large majority of people’s

daily routine, privacy concerns have developed due to the amount of personal information people

put on their social network profiles or give out over posts. Even though we, as police officers,

typically take precautions to protect ourselves from our personal information being distributed, it
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is still possible for the information to get out. With mobile smartphones, easy access to the

internet, and quick connections to almost any information at out fingertips it is very possible for

a violator to have our personal information pulled up on their cellphones by the time we can

return to their window to issue a ticket. Just by searching our names it is possible for an

individual to have access to photographs of our loved ones, our cars, and even our homes since

this information is stored on social media sites. “Outraged offenders easily could get to officers’

doorsteps before their patrol shifts end, leaving them unable to defend their homes and families”

(Waters, 2012). Some officers may say that is not be possible because they don’t have accounts

with social networking sites but what about their spouses, children, friends, and relatives? I’m

sure if you looked everyone has a close friend or relative who is an avid social media user.

The Negative Effect of Social Media on Police Careers

Not only can social media pose a safety risk to officers and their families, but it can cause

huge problems for officers at work. I’m sure if you’ve worked at a police department for any

length of time you know that most officers have a very vulgar sense of humor and can say things

that others (non-police personnel) may find very offensive. So it’s no wonder that some officers

who have social network accounts have managed to find themselves in the limelight or even hot

water with their departments.

Not long ago, I had an officer who I supervised find himself in that exact situation. The

whole situation came to light when a high ranking officer in the department received a new set of

daily pictures on a social networking site called The Chive. While scrolling through the photos
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he saw a familiar face and immediately knew who it was. An officer from my department was

sitting in his patrol car, in full uniform with the patch clearly visible, and a huge smile on his

face as he accepted a donut from the person taking the photo. This photograph had been

distributed around the world in seconds and later found itself on numerous other social

networking sites including Facebook. This photo was able to be viewed by billions of people in

just seconds. As you can imagine this unwanted publicity for our department didn’t make the

administration too happy. Now it wasn’t by any means the worst photograph, but it didn’t paint

our department in a good light either. The photo received numerous negative comments from

viewers. Former officers from our department who had also seen the photo had contacted

department personnel to voice concerns of how distastefully the photograph portrayed our

department. After speaking with the officer it was discovered that he didn’t post the photograph

and he was actually unaware that the picture was even taken. He said he didn’t know the photo

had been taken until he started receiving phone calls from friends who had seen the photo on a

social network site. My department, like most nowadays attempting to combat a bad public

image due to social media, has a social media policy prohibiting officers from posting

photographs in which they are wearing their uniform. If this officer had posted or been involved

in posting the picture he would have been in violation of departmental policy and could have

been disciplined. Since he didn’t know about it until after the fact, this officer was not

disciplined; however, still had to deal with the aftermath of the embarrassment.

Some officers aren’t as fortunate as this officer such as Officer Maria Gresham who

missed out on several promotion opportunities due to an on-going investigation into comments

she made on her private Facebook account about another officer who was involved in an arrest

she had made. Officer Gresham claimed that “she was not promoted in retaliation for her First
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Amendment speech on Facebook.” The 11th Circuit Court upheld the department’s discipline of

Officer Gresham (DiBianca, 2013). Other officers have lost credibility in court, found

themselves in the newspaper over comments, pictures, or videos they posted on their accounts,

and some have even lost their jobs. Even people who are only in the hiring process at a police

department have found their prospective careers debilitated by social media. A majority of law

enforcement agencies now use social network sites during the hiring process background

investigation to filter out undesirable applicants.

How Social Media can be used as an Investigative Tool

Social media can be a huge detriment to law enforcement and the officers that protect our

communities; however, it can also work to our advantage when treated properly. Departments

can use social media to detect and screen out unwanted applicants during the hiring process,

(those who could potentially pose a risk to the department). Investigators can also use the social

media as an investigative tool. Detectives can create undercover accounts to gather intel on

crimes and suspects. The NYPD even has a policy governing the creation of such online

accounts (Sterbenz, 2013). Using social media is a good way to gather information on the

identity and whereabouts of a suspect or even gain information about a particular crime. “The

Supreme Court has said police don’t need search warrants to get information you’ve already

shared with other people” (Sterbenz 2013).

When I worked as a detective, I assisted an officer with a burglary investigation in which

a suspect had posted a photograph of himself and his accomplice in the building during the
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burglary. Even though he denied being involved, it’s nearly impossible to argue with a

photograph. No one ever said criminals were smart. Much like the two my old partner and I

arrested, Michael Baker from Kentucky posted a picture of himself committing a crime. Baker

had his girlfriend take a

picture of him stealing gas

from a Jenkins police car as

he was flipping the bird to

the camera. Needless to say

Baker was later arrested and

Photo obtained from http://www.inquisitr.com/223053/man-
went to jail for the theft.
arrested-for-stealing-gas-from-police-car-posting-photo-on-
facebook/
After getting out of jail

Baker posted on Facebook again but this time to tell his friends he had just gotten out of jail and

“yea lol I went too jail over facebook” (Montaldo 2013).

How Law Enforcement can use Social Media as a Community Relations Tool

Facebook and other social media sites have proven to be very useful during

investigations; however, police departments can use them as a community relations tool in many

different ways. My department has even opened up its very own Facebook account, using it to

keep the city’s citizens up to date on current events throughout the police department and in the

city. This Facebook account is maintained by the department’s Public Information Officer who

has a close working relationship with the media and the public. The account is used to inform
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the public of self-defense courses that are sponsored by the police department, fun events such as

junior police academies and haunted houses for children held by the department, and public

safety announcements. It is also used to quickly distribute accurate information or clarify

incorrect information on high-profile situations such as barricaded suspects, hostage situations,

or missing persons.

In September, the Montrose Police Department turned to “its newest information-

generating tool – Facebook” during a missing person case. The teenager was found safe the next

morning but during the investigation the police department used Facebook to distribute

information about the case. Within hours the Facebook page received approximately 7,440 hits

in response to the posting of the missing teenager. (Woody 2013)

Chief James McCall from the New Frazeysburg Police Department is using social

networking for more than just keeping his citizens informed. Chief McCall is using Facebook to

have citizens send him Facebook messages, which are being delivered directly to his cell phone,

about crimes that are being committed in his jurisdiction. He wants his department activities “as

transparent as possible, with plans to post his department’s monthly activity report.” (Gadd

2013)

Conclusion

In conclusion, social media has grown exponentially over the last 10 years, especially

with the invention and use of smartphones and social media apps. Although many people see
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social networking sites as a good way to communicate with others about themselves and their

lives, they do have many negative aspects for law enforcement. With quick access to

smartphone cameras and social networking sites amateur reporters can record police encounters

and post only the portions they want seen, for billions of people to view and criticize. Not only

are people recording their own encounters with law enforcement but they are creating new

encounters which are making police officer’s jobs even more hazardous. Social media has made

police work not only a dangerous job while on duty, but it has increased the potential dangers to

officers while off duty, as well as increased risk to their families through quick and easy access

to personal information.

Officers have gotten themselves into difficult situations with their departments, courts,

and even the public due to the use of social networking sites. Some officers have been

disciplined, lost credibility in court, have lost promotions, and have even been terminated for

their private use of social networking sites. Some cases in which officers have been disciplined

have ultimately ended up in court, but even the courts are upholding some department’s

discipline of officers due to their conduct while on these sites. The best way for a department to

combat a bad public image due to social media, and to protect their officers is to implement a

policy strictly prohibiting comments, photographs, and videos involving the agency from being

posted on these sites by their employees.

Even though social media sites can cause a negative public image for law enforcement

agencies, headaches for police officers and police administration, or even cost someone their job,

they still have many positive aspects that police departments can benefit from. Social media

sites have proven to be great way to quickly share information with the public and gain valuable

pertinent information during an investigation.

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References

Curtis, A. (2013). The Brief History of Social Media.

http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html.

10/28/2013

DiBianca, M. (2013). 11th Circuit Upholds Facebook Discipline of Police Officer.

http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/labor-employment/b/labor-employment-top-

blogs/archive/2013/10/25/11th-cir-upholds-facebook-discipline-of-police-officer.aspx.

10/30/2013

Gadd, B. (2013) Frazeysburg’s Chief Engages Residents through Facebook.

http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20131025/NEWS01/310250023/.

10/28/2013

Montaldo, C. (2013). People Arrested After Facebook Posts – Michael Baker.

http://crime.about.com/od/stupidcriminals/ss/baker_facebook.htm. 11/2/2013

Sterbenz, C. (2013). Police Make Fake Facebook Profiles to Arrest People – Business Insider.

http://www.businessinsider.com/police-make-fake-facebook-profiles-to-arrest-people-

2013-10. 10/30/2013

Waters, G. (2012). Social Media and Law Enforcement: Potential Risks.

http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/november-

2012/social-media-and-law-enforcement. 10/28/2013

Woody, W. (2013). Montrose Police Turn to Facebook in Missing Persons Case.

http://watchnewspapers.com/bookmark/23779871-Montrose-Police-Turn-to-Facebook-

in-Missing-Persons-Case. 10/30/2013