This is a continuation of the Disciplinary Assignment Part 1. Students read the following journal articles found in the Reading and Study section of Module/Week 7. Judge, Lisa A. (November 2005). Disc

POLICY DEVELOPMENT 7

Policy Development

Introduction

The last decade has seen social media grow to become a broad platform that has touched the lives of numerous people, law enforcement officers included. By this, these professionals have turned to social media to solve criminal cases. On the other hand, they have also engaged as social beings of society at large. While there are rewards associated with these platforms, there are also risks that are involved. Police officers who use social media face the risk of putting the safety of their peers at risk, as well as compromising criminal investigations. In addition, it also creates a picture of a relaxed force, which makes the public not take them seriously. As such, there is a need to have policies that control the use of social media by law enforcers. The development of social media use policies would help retain the face of law enforcement officers to the public.

Developing social media policies

There is a need for law enforcement officers to have policies that dictate the use of social media for personal activities. Frequently, they use these platforms for investigations related to crime. However, there are those who let their social sides control them, and as such, engage in the same way as civilians do, so that it is not unusual to find officers posting information about themselves and their mood at work (Stuart, 2013). For example, they could post about how blue they feel after a fun weekend or how much sleep they feel while on duty. There can also be incidents of juniors making fun of their seniors while at work. However, there are those who take things further and post themselves with evidence they have captured, such as drugs or assets linked to a serious criminal case. The risk with the first case is that it could change the public’s perception of the police by viewing them with lesser respect and thus begin engaging with them as civilians rather that with the reverence they deserve. This is because it would affect the public’s confidence in the law enforcers and their work. On the other hand, posting information about investigation cases would be harmful to ongoing trials under prosecution, considering that such information should only be shared with consent from the prosecutors.

Officers who are caught breaching the policy of confidentiality are put under disciplinary as accused against the regulation of ‘conduct unbecoming’ (Stuart, 2013). However, their activities of exposing the information on social media are not questioned as there is no particular policy that addresses this area. Law enforcement agencies need to see the issues that can arise when officers work and use social media for personal agendas. This is because mixing these two can discredit their work as well as to themselves as professionals. On the other hand, there is a need to consider that police officers are people, too, with social needs (GJISI, 2013). A survey carried out by the Institute for Criminal Justice Education (ICJE) that was done in 2011 discovered that 78% of law enforcement personnel owned a social media account (Institute for Criminal Justice Education, 2012). Out of these, more than 38% associated their identities with their profession. The interest to own an account shows that the officers also have an inclination to become members of the society as well as to identify themselves as police professionals.

Developing a solution in the form of policies is the best way forward. The policies may not restrain the officers from the internet. Still, they may control how they engage in social media with their constitutional rights in mind while also safeguarding the integrity of their departments and the nature of their work.

The department policy

The best practices related to the regulation of police officers’ use of social media are those that provide training on what is suitable for officers to post on social media account. According to the ICJE survey of 2011, a rate of below 15 percent was offered training regarding what was the right information to put on their accounts as well as that of their organization (Institute for Criminal Justice Education, 2011). As such, the best policy includes this feature, covering it broadly and addressing the use of social media in the current world as well as the future. It consists of the consideration for the protection of free speech rights of officers who are not on duty when they are using their devices. Those at work, however, are subject to scrutiny and are expected to provide information concerning their work on social media platforms.

To delineate the freedom of speech policy, however, there is a demarcation of what information is incriminating and therefore disallowed from being posted in personal social media accounts as well as those of the law enforcement organizations. It also regulates what photos and videos, a well as evidence, equipment, and tools, as well as the nature of weapons that should be publicized Mihalek & Frankel, 2019). It regulates the officers from sharing their employment information, which includes their job tasks, work hours and other concerning information, police reports, criminal arrests and additional associated information such as criminal identities and history, vulgarity and unprofessional language, unpleasant images, offensive comments and images of their peers and superiors, peer identification which includes their names, images, blogs, and microblogs, as well as posts, information linked to work such as their activities while on duty, their compensation information, and any information that gives away criminal investigation processes such as locations, and other natures of internal investigations. It is also one that requires compliance under all measures.

Considering this, the policy I would develop would have similar guidelines. Every officer would be required to undergo a training program that would help them understand the meaning of social media platforms and how they serve the law enforcers, and how the misuse of this advantage would mean putting their departments at risk. They would, therefore, learn what information is considered fair to share and what should be kept private so as not to interfere with investigation processes, police work, procedures, and the face of the organization. It would include officers understanding what information they can share when off duty, and what details they should leave out of their accounts to help win public confidence and create a social boundary with society.

Conclusion

Law enforcement officers must understand the magnitude of their associations on social media. Sharing information that is linked to their duties affects not only their pride and that of their organization, but also profoundly affects ongoing criminal investigations. There is, therefore, a need for a social media policy that determines how officers should engage in social media during and after duty. The best policy I found focused on training, which helps the law enforcers understand information sharing on social media. It also includes swearing of compliance, which binds all members to act as is expected of them.

References

GSIJI. (February 2013). Developing a Policy on the Use of Social Media in Intelligence and Investigative Activities. Retrieved from https://it.ojp.gov/documents/d/Developing%20a%20Policy%20on%20the%20Use%20of%20Social%20Media%20in%20Intelligence%20and%20Inves....pdf

Institute for Criminal Justice Education. (September 18, 2012). Social Networking Survey. Retrieved from http://www.icje.org/articles/SocialMediaSurvey.pdf

Mihalek, M., & Frankel, R. (July 11, 2019). The dangers of social media for law enforcement take center stage amid a series of scandals: Analysis. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/US/dangers-social-media-law-enforcement-center-stage-amid/story?id=64252037