Technical Report Early Draft
Statement of transmittal: This report highlights the increased use of social media as an informant by government agencies. Additionally, it talks of some of the challenges that these agencies may experience in pursuit of getting intelligence, including privacy invasion.
As societies continue to grow and the number of individuals with mobile devices soars, there is a significant number of people who use social media at the tune of billions. These devices, coupled with third-party applications, create a path of user information and a platform through which individuals can share updates with the rest of the world. The evolution of technology is at an unprecedented rate. To keep up with the pace of technology, law enforcement agencies must develop strategies on how they collect and analyze intelligence on criminal activities.
Presently, these agencies are encountering problems, including terrorist attacks, organized crime, and gang violence. As such, a new form of policing has shifted to more advanced levels called intelligence-led policing. To pile more pressure on the complexity of crimes, terror organizations are continuously advocating for lone-wolf terrorists to act without receiving information from the central command (Omand, Bartlett & Miller, 2012). Terror gang and other criminal enterprises use these strategies to tame surveillance from national security intelligence (LexisNexis, 2014). This will, in turn, lessen the disruption of their criminal endeavors. To navigate through this challenge, it is paramount for law enforcement agencies to leverage the power of social media and other public forums to acquire intelligence and identify potential threats. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
This report offers an elaborate plan on how social media can be used to curb crime. It recommends the use of social media analytics tools such as Agorapulse to identify suspicious activities before they become a real danger to the communities. This will create room for law enforcers to have an insight of people who can be responsible for previous crimes and prosecute them accordingly.
Additionally, collecting information is backed by the law. According to United States National Archives (2016), agencies that operate within the intelligence community are given the freedom to collect, retain, or share information concerning United States persons only in accordance with the written guidelines. For example, the agencies must only collect the publicly available information
The benefits of using social media as an informant harbor many advantages, however, there are inherent concerns, especially those that entail law enforcement abuse and how the collected information can be used. This is one issue that the report raised.
A report done by law offices of Scott Rubenstein concurs with this report. It articulates that posting every time on social media is a perfect way that perpetrators of criminal activities can get caught and convicted of their crimes since the police can use their posts against them. According to the publication, nearly 80 percent of prosecutors rely on social media evidence where, in some instances, there are success stories (Rubenstein, 2019). In cases where there are graphic pictures of victims or pictures of the defendant doing the act, they direct the prosecutors to charge them. Similarly, other sources acknowledge how the comprehensive coverage of social media has made it an attractive tool used by governments for surveillance. However, they are quick to note the concerns about privacy and abuse, including overreach by these agencies in pursuit of intelligence.
References
Rubenstein, S.A. (2019). Social Media, The New Informant. Attorneys. Retrieved from https://www.attorneyscottrubenstein.com/2017/01/social-media-the-new-informant/
Omand, D., Bartlett, J. & Miller, C. (2012). #Intelligence. Retrieved October 23, 2016 from http://www.demos.co.uk/files/_Intelligence_-_web.pdf?1335197327
LexisNexis. (2014). Social Media Use in Law Enforcement. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from https://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/downloads/whitepaper/2014-social-media-use-in-lawenforcement.pdf