Social Media: Establishing Criteria for Law Enforcement

This essay evaluates the arguments presented by Robert D. Stuart in his work 'Social Media: Establishing Criteria for Law Enforcement' and analyzes the effectiveness of social media as a communication channel in law enforcement agencies.

ENGLISH
Claim of value response of "Social Media: Establishing
Criteria for Law Enforcement" By Robert D.
Stuart, M.S

ESSAY
According to Mr. Robert D. Stuart, over the years, communication has
completely been transformed with the aid of technological interventions (Stuart,
2013). The work “Social Media: Establishing Criteria for Law Enforcement" is aimed
at analyzing the effect of social media as a communication channel in the operations
of law enforcement agencies. The author presents a range of arguments in his work.
The following essay will evaluate the arguments presented by the author in
terms of the available literature and other information. Thus, the thesis statement of
the following essay is to analyze the effectiveness of the work "Social Media:
Establishing Criteria for Law Enforcement" By Robert D. Stuart.
According to research, while the traditional criminal investigations make use
of the historical patterns, they fail to account for the rapid changes as evident from the
social media aids. The first part of the work of the author Mr. Robert D. Stuart sheds
light on the growing use of social media. A number of statistics over the years of
social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube engage the users
in terms of the dramatic growth of the popular social sites, without which the modern
society is incomplete. Further, the author correlates the growth of social media with
their increasing impact on the lives of law enforcement respondents as well. The
claims are accorded with the aid of the data presented by the Institute for Criminal
Justice Education (ICJE). Thus, the introduction section is comprehensively presented
with the aid of the data to build the attention of the readers.
Some of the major benefits that the said agencies derive from the employment
of the social media, over the recent years as stated by the author are the maintaining
public relations, investigation of the crime and prevention of the crime. It has also

ESSAY
been pointed out that one chief benefit that can be yielded by the use of the social
media in the criminal law enforcement is the aid in the prediction of the crimes from
the human behavioral data, thereby enabling better investigation management. The
latter part of the introduction section of the work gives an insight into the uses of
social media in the operations of the law enforcement agencies. Out of the above-
listed benefits, the benefit of real-time two-way communication is further explained
with the aid of the instance of the year 2011 involving the Kentucky State Police
investigators as presented in the article of the Bowling Green Daily News. The author
asserts the remaining two benefits from the same source of information as stated
above. Thus, while the author agrees to the claim of the article presented in the
Bowling Green Daily News, he fails to support it with the additional relevant
literature. The references of the supporting literature and the explanation of the
benefits of crime prevention and criminal investigation were missing from the work.
However, it must be noted that the comparison of the operations of the
criminal enforcement agencies as carried out in the absence of the social media and
with the aid of the social media, would have enabled a better understanding for the
readers about the essential role of social media. The same was missing in the work.
Further, it is significant to note that the social media plays an important role for the
said agencies not only in the mentioned list of benefits but also in building the
goodwill and the trust of the communities and the department irrespective of the size
and location. This is done by the aid of the presentation of the successful everyday
endeavors as carried out by the departments, on their respective pages or profiles. The
author did not present this benefit in his work.
There exist some problems in the use of social media on the lines of the
convergence of work life and personal life on social media as pointed out by the

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author. It has also been accorded that the chief disadvantages that can be resulted
from the social media for the employees of the agencies are the privacy intrusions,
reduction in the productivity, unnecessary leakage of the information to unintended
audiences and the overall impersonal nature of the social media sites. The author
supports his claims with relevant real-life examples, which increases the integrity of
the work.
The last section of the work sheds light on the potential solutions that can be
employed by the law enforcement entities to govern the behavior and the usage of
the employees, thereby securing the department as a whole from the potential issues.
It is necessary to develop a social media policy by such agencies as stated by the
author. The importance of social media policy development at the workplace is also
highlighted in a number of works. Accordingly, another means that can be adopted
by the agencies as described by the author is restrict the right of the employees to
speak while the contents are not in synchronization with the overall mission of the
agency. In addition, the author suggests that the departments can adapt to scrutinize
the content that is posted by the employees in order to regulate the same. The author
is further suggestive of the contents that can be included in the code of conduct of the
said agencies and departments for their employees. Thus, a detailed explanation is
provided by the author of the solutions that can be employed by criminal
enforcement agencies to safeguard their interests and carry out the desired objectives.
Hence, from the discussions conducted in the previous parts, it can be stated
that overall author presents his view in a detailed manner, especially of the solutions
that lead to maximum benefits from the social media use to such criminal
enforcement agencies. In addition, the background of the issues is explained

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sincerely by the author, the same is evident by the claims of literature and real life
instances.

ESSAY
References
Stuart, R. D. (2013). Social Media: Establishing Criteria for Law Enforcement Use.
Retrieved from: https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/social-media-
establishing-criteria-for-law-enforcement-use