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UOTP Criminal Justice System and Social Media Discussion

 

1st Reply:

Should criminal justice agencies maintain a social media presence?

Officers cannot be expected to refrain from maintaining a social presence on the Internet. Therefore, law enforcement agencies must establish criteria for social media usage that balances the constitutional rights of officers while protecting the integrity of departments and investigations. 

Should police departments have a dedicated social media unit?

A social media unit is not exactly needed in smaller communities. In bigger cities a social media unita could be very useful, can be very responsible for taking in tips on crime and communicating with the public.

How have social media sites assisted law enforcement in fighting and investigating crime? 

Law enforcement will continue to use social media as a tool to uncover criminal activity and to investigate those responsible for crimes. Law enforcement officials use social media to locate criminals in the same manner and with the same permissions as the average user. Absent certain circumstances requiring a warrant, the average investigator is not using any special software, nor do police have any special administrative rights to uncover the information they do find.

2nd Reply:

Should criminal justice agencies maintain a social media presence? 

I believe criminal justice should have a social media presence as this would help with community relations. This will show the community that the criminal justice wants to help were it is needed as a lot of people use social media to communicate with each other. The community can have question answered and the criminal justice can see were problems are starting.

Should police departments have a dedicated social media unit? 

This would be nice to have as they would be able to respond to questions in a timely manner and the public would not have to wait two days or more before they get a response. they can answer questions, take reports, take statements of crimes committed or anything else as phones get jammed up with lots of phone calls.

How have social media sites assisted law enforcement in fighting and investigating crime? 

Social media sites can help by letting people leave messages anonymously but still talk to a law enforcement. We all know that the phone is always busy for the police but with social media they can leave question, reports, or statements on the sites for criminal justice agencies to get to as soon as they can. With a social media unit they would be able to answer the questions faster. Also, social media sites can help with language barriers that arise when talk on the phone or in person. They would allow the person to type in their language and then they would be able to ready it in the language the criminal justice agencies can read.