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Does Police Use of Twitter Align With and Enhance Community Policing Objectives? An Analysis of the New York City Police Department’s Twitter Activity

Does Police Use of Twitter Align With and Enhance Community Policing Objectives? An Analysis of... Prior research has examined how social media has been integrated into law enforcement operations; however, this research has not fully explored the potential for this technology to function as an effective community policing strategy. Through the creation of a uniquely large dataset constructed with individual “tweets,” the current study analyzed Twitter use by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in 2016. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research identified linkages between social media and community policing, the level of adherence to community policing objectives, the potential for heterogeneity in usage across different NYPD patrol boroughs, and the degree of public engagement. Our findings suggest Twitter is inimitably positioned to contribute to each aspect of community policing, although its effectiveness varied across dimension typology. Second, heterogeneity was also observed across patrol boroughs, indicating both the objectives and application of social media varies within the agency. Lastly, engagement metrics reveal a few notable trends concerning police-community relations. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Police Quarterly SAGE

Does Police Use of Twitter Align With and Enhance Community Policing Objectives? An Analysis of the New York City Police Department’s Twitter Activity

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References (52)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022
ISSN
1098-6111
eISSN
1552-745X
DOI
10.1177/10986111211043875
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Prior research has examined how social media has been integrated into law enforcement operations; however, this research has not fully explored the potential for this technology to function as an effective community policing strategy. Through the creation of a uniquely large dataset constructed with individual “tweets,” the current study analyzed Twitter use by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in 2016. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research identified linkages between social media and community policing, the level of adherence to community policing objectives, the potential for heterogeneity in usage across different NYPD patrol boroughs, and the degree of public engagement. Our findings suggest Twitter is inimitably positioned to contribute to each aspect of community policing, although its effectiveness varied across dimension typology. Second, heterogeneity was also observed across patrol boroughs, indicating both the objectives and application of social media varies within the agency. Lastly, engagement metrics reveal a few notable trends concerning police-community relations.

Journal

Police QuarterlySAGE

Published: Dec 1, 2022

Keywords: social media; Twitter; community-oriented policing (COP); NYPD; technology

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