10/20/2016
By: Janay Williams
It is quite apparent that social media has influenced our means of communication. Everywhere and almost anywhere social media is present. It is the voice for those who aren’t able to represent themselves. “How Social Media Is Changing Law Enforcement” is an article written by Wayne Hansen. It is a clear example on how these social media outlets are affecting criminal justice. It has allowed law enforcement to reach out and retrieve information more quickly. Twitter and Facebook have helped gather additional evidence and have created a faster way to bring people to justice. These outlets are allowing police to catch criminals faster. Criminals are able to be located even quicker because of social media. Law enforcement has become more reliant on these outlets in order to communicate with the community. By communicating with these communities through social media, it helps build a trust between both officer and citizen.
Social Media is an additional surveillance for police officers, but not only for them but the community as well. It is important that police enforcement stay in good standing with communicators online.
The advance in social media is becoming stronger, and with that strength comes positive and negative outcomes. However, social media is broadly accessible to anyone, which creates problems. Therefore with information being used off social media by criminal justice enforcers, it is crucial that information is validated and carefully evaluated. On the other hand it can also be a disadvantage for law enforcement. Everything is becoming easier to question and every second something is being recorded. Police enforcement has been exposed all over social media, from the good to the bad. Social media has the affect to help progress law enforcement or expose law enforcement in the essences of bad judgments.