Should Social Media, Including Facebook, Assist in Law Enforcement Essay Example for Free

Should Social Media, Including Facebook, Assist in Law Enforcement EssayWe all(a) greet what happened to Jill Meagher. What some of you whitethorn not know is that genial media played an integral role in firmness her murder. Without the use of social media, Jill Meaghers case may remove remained unsolved. Unfortunately, we usually associate social media with disconfirming connotations however what we havent thought of is the constructive contributions it could make to our society. One change that we should make that would expediency us incredibly is to use social media, including Facebook, to assist in policefulness enforcement. I dont have to define to you what social media is, we all use it on a daily basis. If I was language to an older audience I may have to explain, but to be honest most of you be going to go home and log onto Facebook. It has forever and a day been a part of our world and it probably always will be. Sadly, one part of social media that we are v ery aware of is that it is often used to harm, to outrage this is clearly evident in the numerous accounts of cyber bullying. I do not intend to pretend that thither arent negative aspects of social media I am manifestly trying to emphasise the enormous might and influence that it holds.If we could harness this power and rather use it to protect and assist in law enforcement the proceedss would be tremendous. So, how can social media help us? One enormously beneficial aspect of social media is in the locating of missing persons. In Australia, one person goes missing every 15 minutes. The patrol simply do not have the resources to locate all of these people. However, hundreds of media sites have already been set up with the resole intent of befalling missing persons. Crimestoppers have a mobile application to help connect the federation to the police in reporting abuse.Assistant Commissioner Peter Barrie of the New South Wales Police said It is a great way for people to sen d us a message and support it with a picture, anywhere, anytime, The bare-assed tools offer the community an opportunity to assist in a way that is beneficial to us all. It makes sentiency to harness social medias power for good to solve real life problems such as finding missing persons. More importantly however, social media cuts down those crucial minutes when finding a missing person the minutes that determine whether a person has hope of being tack to noticeher.A decently real life example of the effectiveness of this method occurred in November 2011 when 13 year old Allie Loftis ran forward from her home near Boston. Thanks to social media, her father Tony put up her 12 days later, with a 42-year-old inner predator. After coverage of his Facebook, YouTube and Twitter campaign, local papers and TV stations followed the story and eventually found her. Mr Loftis said that the more people there are looking the more likely you are to find them, that is really just basic com mon sense.Without the aid of social media, who knows what could have happened to his daughter. Secondly, social media not tho provides a way of locating people, but also assists in gathering evidence on queers. At its core, social media is an online database of personal information, and once it is online, can never be taken down. This method was used in Canada after the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot. The police admitted to being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of evidence provided by social media, enabling them to convict a number of rioters.The frequency of cases being solved through evidence found on social media is coarse and growing as it is becoming gradually more prevalent and steadying to law enforcement. A survey conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in 2012 found that 86% of agencies use social media to review profiles and the activities of suspects. This statistic shows how increasingly reliant law enforcement is becoming on social media. Of course, this is not the only way that the police can gather evidence on suspects. Many people instantly have online identities.This makes it that much easier for investigators to create fake online profiles to track or befriend suspects in order to profit new information and insight into their crimes. They will also be able to gain an understanding of the suspects mentality through monitoring their posts, giving them the ability to secure an accurate conviction. The knowledge that the law enforcement agencies are policing the social media pages for potential criminals should provide those who use them for innocent pleasure and chat, a sense of reassurance.Lastly, social media is one of the most effective means of communication when it comes to sending out messages on a large scale. This is why it is such a great platform to inform the common. I guarantee you that every iodine person in this room will have access to social media right now. Virtually all phones come with internet access we can get onto Facebook at the touch of a button. How much easier could it get? While users are checking their messages and accepting friend requests, they surely have enough time to look at that missing person picture their friends coverd.Within seconds of the Police posting that picture, a user can share it with their entire network of friends, family and co-workers who then can share it within their own networks. A further advantage of using social media to inform the public is the relationship it will create between the police and community. by means of the more personal style of communication, social media is likely to help create a climate of entrust and foster better interaction with the general public. The police officers capturem more human and therefore the public would have more trust in them.People want to be able to talk to the police in whatever way they can, wherever they can. This can be done through social media. through and through this it can be seen q uite clearly that social media is highly capable of informing the public for the interests of law enforcement. I can understand that some people may have reservations due to the current unregulated nature of social media. However, the dish out is not to say that we shouldnt use it but rather to apparatus appropriate safeguards in order to refine and regulate these sites.Like all new and revolutionary developments, it may take a while for it to be perfected, but soon using social media to solve crime will be no more unusual than the old fashioned pen and paper. Change is stiff to accept, however resisting the use of social media to assist in law enforcement is as useless as it would have been to resist the demise of the horse and cart when cars were invented. Society naturally evolves we need to focus on the positive and strengthening change this will have on our nation.Our generation have embraced this technology, unlike our parents. It is natural that we should see it as part of the future of law enforcement. As many people say, the youth is the hope for our future. jr. generations do not respond, like our parents, to the traditional media such as newspapers or radio, we respond to a rummy function of communication social media. Our most important priority should be our safety, Social media is not the answer to all our problems, but it will bring us one step closer.