The Criminal Justice Community Must Use Social Media

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Recommended: The effects of social media and law enforcement

With the proliferation and ubiquity of social media technology, more criminal justice educators and professionals need to have an adequate understanding of how to use it for their benefit. Social media and government was first viewed as a way to push news updates or relevant issues in a community to citizens, but that is only one component of the many emerging benefits in social media. One year ago, John Dale of the Boston Police Department described the benefits of embracing Twitter as an early warning system:

“Using the Twitter advanced search, we can look at all the tweets in Boston in real-time... We’re not interested in just everyday messages that people put up--but when people start saying ‘What’s that smoke coming from the Hancock Tower’ or ‘Why is everybody running around Copley Place’ or something?... If two or three things come in--patterns, trends--something we should be paying attention to” (Youtube).

The need to embrace, understand and utilize social media has come from the top down, literally. President Obama won the election largely due to money raised from grassroots donations and by reaching people through social media. Additionally, the President signed the “Open Government Directive” which makes transparency in government a requirement on all levels. This directive has a handful of unprecedented benefits. For the first time ever, all federal agencies were required to have two way communication with citizens. Additionally, citizens could make suggestions, vote up or down others’ ideas, and have an active voice in government through Twitter or replying to blog posts which was previously seen as near impossible.

A fantastic example of an agency taking the lead with “OpenGov” is the Federal Communications Com...

... middle of paper ...

.../www.dhs.gov/journal/theblog/2010/03/open-for-questions-

aviation-security.html>.

"Digg Dialogg Episode 12: Julius Genachowski - Julius Genachowski, FCC, Walt Mossberg." DiggTV. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. .

"DoD Official Policy on New/Social Media." DoD Social Media Hub. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. newsocial-media/>. "Emergency Managers and First Responders Use Twitter and Facebook to Update Communities." Emergency Management. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. .

"OpenEPA - by IdeaScale." Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. .

"YouTube - John Daly/Boston Police at NHSMB on 03/27/2009." YouTube. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. .

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