Policing and Social Media: Social Control in an Era of New Media

摘要

Police agencies worldwide are increasingly turning to social media to enhance their communication and engagement strategies. However, this is not a straightforward process due to the inherently complex relationship between the police, public and technology. Social media - which presents a range of opportunities and risks from a policing perspective - has been described as 'any online technology that allows people to publish, converse and share content online' (College of Policing, 2014: 3). Online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube enable police to reach out to new constituencies and to improve the flow of information between the organisation and citizens. More controversially, they also offer authorities potential for increased social surveillance, social control, investigation and the management of public perceptions. Simultaneously, they provide new possibilities for citizens to construct, interpret, promote and share their own 'law and order' stories in ways that can challenge official narratives as well as different means by which they can organise, mobilise and incite others towards criminality. These multiple potentials of social media were noted in the official investigation into the urban disturbances that followed the 2011 fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan by police in London (House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, 2011).