A Pattern Language of Social Media in Public Security

A PATTERN LANGUAGE
OF SOCIAL MEDIA
IN PUBLIC SECURITY

3
Authors
Sebastian Denef (Fraunhofer IAO),
Arnout de Vries (TNO), Hans van Vliet
(TNO), Mariano Cecowski (XLAB),
Jordi Diego (Local Police Valencia), Rubén
Fernández (Local Police Valencia), Kat
Hadjimatheou (University of Warwick),
Jon Coaffee (University of Warwick),
Emmanouil Kermitsis (KEMEA), Nikos
Moustakidis (KEMEA), Klaudia Tani (EOS),
Pilar de la Torre (EFUS), Fiona Williamson
(Police Service of Northern Ireland)
© 2017 by MEDI@4SEC Project
This research is partially funded by the
European Commission as part of Horizon
2020 framework in the context of the
MEDI@4SEC project under Grant Agree-
ment no 700281. This report is a partial
and updated draft of a public deliverable
submitted to the European Commission.
More information:
àà www.media4sec.eu

5
Contents
Executive Summary 9
Background 13
The Patterns 19
LEAS ADOPT SOCIAL MEDIA 21
INTELLIGENCE 23
SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS 25
ENFORCING THE LAW 27
INTAKE 29
LISTING MISSING PEOPLE
OR CASUALTIES 31
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING 33
FILTER LOCAL SOURCES 35
INCIDENT MONITORING 37
CIVIL SERVANTS MONITORING 39
CROWD MANAGEMENT 41
SEEK CONNECT HELP 43
SOCIAL MEDIA FOUNDATION 45
SOCIAL MEDIA EDUCATION 47
MAIN ACCOUNT 49
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY 51
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES 53
MODERN IT INFRASTRUCTURE 55
MOBILE DEVICES 57
LOAD BALANCE 59
SOCIAL INTRANET 61
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS 63
UNDERCOVER OPERATIONS 65
CROWDSOURCE CRIME TIPS 67
HOUSE TO HOUSE 69
REPORT CRIME ANONYMOUSLY 71
ANALYSING SOCIAL MEDIA 73
SUBPOENA DATA 75
ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION 77
INFORMING CITIZENS 79
HUMAN SIDE STORIES 81
PREVENTION 83
CRIME MAPPING 85
ALERT TOOL 87
ANSWERING CITIZENS 89
EDUCATING CITIZENS 91
FACEBOOK ADS 93
TWEETATHON 95
BEING PREPARED 97
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 99
TARGET GROUP ENGAGEMENT 101
TARGETED ACCOUNTS 103
ONLINE PATROL 105
PUBLIC VOTING 107
ORGANISE VOLUNTEERING 109
RECRUITMENT 111
WEBCARE 113
REFUTE RUMOURS 115
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT 117
REASSURANCE 119
CITIZENS ADOPT SOCIAL MEDIA 121
ORGANISE PROTESTS 123
DIY JUSTICE 125
DIY CITIZEN JOURNALISM 127
DIY ACCOUNTS 129
DIY INTELLIGENCE 131
DIY WATCH DOG 133
DIY INVESTIGATION 135
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH 137
CRIMINALS ADOPT SOCIAL MEDIA 139
CYBERBULLYING AND MOBBING 141
ROMANCE SCAM 143
PLANNING 145
ILLEGAL MARKET PLACE 147
GANG RECRUITMENT 149
FACEBOOK THUGGING 151
STALKING 153
IDENTITY THEFT & FRAUD 155
THREATENING & RANSOM 157
REVENGE PORN 159
SEXTORTION 161
PROPAGANDA 163
HATE SPEECH 165
GROOMING 167
Discussion and Outlook 171
Bibliography 177

9
Executive
Summary
This report summarizes practices of so-
cial media use in public security. Our goal
is to create an inventory of best practic-
es, lessons-learned, and roles and re-
sponsibilities, to analyse specifically how
social media is being used by police and
other public security planners, within and
outside Europe. By providing an overall
description, we aim to spark discussions
and provide a common language for so-
cial media use in the field of public secu-
rity planning.
Using data from academic literature
review, the review of blogs, books, ex-
isting best practice descriptions and
expert knowledge this report compares
social media practices. Inspired by Chris-
topher Alexander’s work on ‘pattern lan-
guages’ for urban spaces and buildings,
we analysed the data and looked for pat-
terns. To further refine our findings, we
presented the practice patterns to social
media and security experts and inter-
viewed them about their perspective and
current practices.
As a result, we identified 74 practice
patterns that describe and structure
the use of social media for public se-
curity. The patterns are structured in
three groups, describing how (1) law en-
forcement agencies (LEAs), such as the
police, (2) citizens and (3) criminals are
using social media and impact public se-
curity. With 50 patterns, the focus of our
work is on group (1), the LEAs.
Each pattern has a unique name (writ-
ten in capital letters) and describes a
solution to a recurring problem or con-
text. Following an image and a very con-
cise summary of the pattern, this report
provides links to online resources that
detail the given practices. The patterns
have been designed to be printed and
shared as an input for workshops and
strategic discussions of practitioners
and public security planners.
Patterns link to other patterns and
thereby form groups. The main groups
for LEAs are the use of social media for
INTELLIGENCE, ENFORCING THE
LAW, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
and ENGAGEMENT &
COMMUNICATION. Additionally, we
describe a range of SOCIAL MEDIA
FOUNDATION practices that allow or-
ganisations to prepare themselves and
maintain the use of social media.
Reflecting on this work, we show that
typically LEAs start their social media ef-
forts by implementing the INFORMING
CITIZENS pattern, which has become
a quasi standard. LEAs widely acknowl-
edge the benefits of using social media
for ENFORCING THE LAW, especial-
ly in crisis situations. With regards to
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING and
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS the
scope and technological depths of ad-
aptation vary. While already common
practice in selected countries, such as
the Netherlands and the United King-
dom, a more interactive COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT typically points to
more experience in using social media,
as it requires organisational change that
empowers local officers to publicly post
and interact digitally with citizens.
Other practices such as ONLINE
PATROL are still in their infancy and
require LEAs to establish a visible pres-
ence in online spaces.
While selected patterns are widely
used and feature many examples, oth-
er practices have only been applied in
selected contexts and are at the exper-
imental stage. We thus do not consider
this work a static theory. Instead, we
understand our report as a snapshot of
current practices that should and will
evolve.
Discussing our results with practition-
ers showed that our descriptions cover
their current practices. It also revealed
the need for future research to provide
more insights into how organisations can
innovate and cope with the increasing
speed of technological innovation be-
yond social media..
This practice report is a compilation
showing the great potential of social me-
dia for public security. It does not take
into account the current stage of social
adaptation. Indeed, our work indicates
that adoption greatly varies and most
LEAs have yet to define their role and re-
sponsibilities in digitised societies.
We invite all practioners and research-
ers to contribute to this work by submit-
ting their own examples or comments.

13
MEDI@4SEC
Project
The MEDI@4SEC project focuses on un-
derstanding the opportunities, challeng-
es and ethical considerations of enhanc-
ing social media use for public security:
the good, the bad and the ugly. The good
comprises using social media for prob-
lem solving, fighting crime, decreasing
fear of crime and increasing the quality
of life. The bad is the increase of digit-
ised criminality and terrorism with new
phenomena emerging through the use
of social media. The ugly comprises the
grey areas of phenomena to deal with
during incidents, such as trolling, cyber
bullying, threats, or live video sharing of
tactical security operations.
Making use of the possibilities that
social media offer, including smart
‘workarounds’ is key, while respecting
privacy, legislation, and ethics. This
changing situation raises a series of
challenges and possibilities for public
security planners.
MEDI@4SEC explores this through a
series of communication and dissemi-
nation activities that engage extensive-
ly with a range of end-users to better
understand the usage of social media
for security activities. MEDI@4SEC will
seek a better understanding of how so-
cial media can and cannot be used for
public security purposes and highlight
ethical, legal and data-protection-related
issues and implications. Activities centre
around six relevant themes: DIY Policing;
Everyday security; Riots and mass gath-
erings: The dark web; Trolling; and Inno-
vative market solutions. MEDI@4SEC will
feed into, support and influence changes
in policy-making and policy implementa-
tion in public security that can be used
by end-users to improve their decision
making.
In this project, social media are de-
fined as “a group of internet-based appli-
cations that build on the ideological and
technological foundations of Web 2.0,
and that allow the creation and exchange
of User Generated Content” (Kaplan &
Haenlein 2010: 61). Social media that
we predominantly focus on are the more
widely used social media apps, notably
Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube,
and Instagram, but also (new) emerging
social media that are widely adopted
and that we come across. Online chat
groups, forums and market places are
not our key focus, but will be touched
upon where relevant.
The ambition of the MEDI@4SEC is to
establish a community around the topic
of social media in public security and
provide a better understanding to public
security planners. That is why the project
will organise a workshop series in which
stakeholders can discuss and exchange
knowledge in the field.
Further, we have witnessed that in this
relatively new and still experimental field,
practitioners can benefit greatly from
international knowledge exchange and
learnings from the experiences of oth-
ers. Such exchange can help to compare
practices and empower early adopters
with references and examples.
In the long run, this exchange can help
to harmonize security practices, espe-
cially among European law enforcement
agencies.
The core motivation for this report,
hence, is to spark and enable discus-
sions among the various stakeholders
in the field of social media and public
security.
Driven by this motivation, this report
aims to provide an overview that shows
a comprehensive map of social media
practice in the field of public security.
Our focus is on making social media
practice easily accessible and deliver
pointers to other sources for additional
details.
LITERATURE REVIEW
We have conducted an extensive litera-
ture review of 382 publications. The re-
view provides an extensive overview of
research and other publications in the
field of public security and social media.
The literature review focuses on the fol-
lowing six themes:
DIY policing: citizens employing social
media for criminal investigation, crime
prevention or ensuring public security
independent of police. Citizens taking ini-
tiative/taking over police tasks.
Riots and mass gatherings: the role
of social media (data) during riots and
mass gatherings and ensuring public se-
curity by monitoring, signalling and com-
municating with the public.
Everyday security: the everyday po-
licing of public security, including co-
operation with citizens via social media
‘community policing’ and social media/
big data intelligence.
The Dark Web: organised (internation-
al) crime and its high-tech use of the dark
web, the influence on public security, and
the counter policing activities.
Trolling: all kinds of online bullying

14
(cyber bullying), of which some activities
are criminal offences and some are not.
Innovative market solutions: new com-
mercial products for including social me-
dia in police work. For example apps for
smartphones, social media monitoring
tools etc.
For the purpose of the deliverable at
hand, we have scanned the literature
review for best practices and lessons
learned and included these examples in
the description of practices.
DATA SOURCES
Our selection and description of best
practices is grounded in a variety of dif-
ferent data sources.
First, as mentioned above, this re-
port is based on an extensive litera-
ture review of 382 publications. These
publications include academic studies
on social media topics and also other,
non-academic publications on the topic.
As part of the existing literature review
we also reviewed existing best practice
reports, such as the report of the FP7
COMPOSITE project on best practices in
police social media adoption. We also re-
viewed blogs, such as the Dutch website
socialmediadna.nl that has a long history of
reporting on the topic.
Second, we leveraged the existing ex-
pertise in the MEDI@4SEC project con-
sortium. As the project partners were
among the first to study social media for
public security, we had several discus-
sions and reviewed the knowledge and
experience available in the project. Of
great importance here was the expertise
at the teams at Fraunhofer IAO and TNO,
who conducted various studies in the
field of police social media use.
Third, to include the perspective of
municipalities, we reviewed strategic
security plans of cities for practice and
social media adoption. The strategies
were collected through a call launched
by the European Forum for Urban Securi-
ty (EFUS) among its members. 23 strate-
gies from different European cities were
collected and reviewed, including cities
in France, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK
and Switzerland.
Fourth, we presented our findings to
30 external experts and discussed the
practice descriptions with them. The ex-
perts included police officers, research-
ers and city officials from Belgium, Ger-
many, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands,
Slovenia, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland,
the United Kingdom and the U.S. The ex-
perts provided additional examples and
pointed to missing aspects currently rel-
evant in their work.
Fifth, we organised a workshop
through the network of our project part-
ner, EFUS. At the workshop, we present-
ed the results of the report and discussed
its application in the work contexts of the
cities of the workshop participants.
METHODS & STRUCTURE
Methodologically, this work is inspired by
the pattern language concept of Christo-
pher Alexander and the grounded theory
method, proposed by Glaser and Strauss
(1967).
For presenting and making sense of
the data, we apply the concept of a pat-
tern language developed by Christopher
Alexander. Christopher Alexander (1964,
1979, 1999, 2002a, 2002b, 2009), as
an architect and researcher, has studied
the interaction between human activity
and designed artefacts and spaces. To
understand existing configurations, Alex-
ander proposes the concept of pattern
languages. He argued that “every place
is given its character by certain pat-
terns of events that keep on happening
there” (1979, p. 55) and that these “pat-
terns of events are always interlocked
with certain geometric patterns in the
space” (1979, p. 75). Each pattern “is
a rule which describes a type of strong
centre that is likely to be needed, on a
recurring basis, throughout a particular
environment” (2002b, p. 345). A pattern
language is a collection of patterns that
describes an overall configuration.
In the field of computer science, Alex-
ander’s work has been influential in shar-
ing knowledge in software engineering
(Gamma, et al, 1995). Erickson (2000a,
2000b) suggests pattern languages as
a ‘Lingua Franca’ in design processes
for computing systems, addressing the
need to design systems in interdiscipli-
nary teams that integrate well in existing
workplaces. These patterns and their re-
lationships “can be used as a language
for discussing changes and reflecting on
their possible impacts, both in terms of
the activities of the organisation, and in
terms of the qualities of work life which
its members value.” (Erickson, 2000a, p.
366)
As detailed in Denef, Oppermann,
Keyson (2011), Alexander’s creation of a
pattern language can be framed as an
instance of research, where an initial in-
terest, in this case the quality of life in
designed spaces, leads to a theory in a
bottom-up process. From this perspec-

15
tive, we can link Alexander’s work to
the methodological considerations by
Glaser and Strauss work on grounded
theory (1967). In grounded theory, the
lens of research is not defined a priori;
instead, it evolves in the course of the
study, grounded in and targeted for the
phenomenon at hand.
Inspired by the concepts of grounded
theory, our pattern language of social
media practice in public security evolved
in a grounded process and by a process
of constant comparison of practical ex-
amples found in our data.
As a result, we present our findings in
a pattern language. In a concise form,
each pattern describes a problem or
context, the solution and is visualized
using an image. These descriptions are
short in order to enable the reader to
quickly grasp a general idea, before ex-
ploring its details. The patterns are de-
signed in a way that they can be directly
printed from this report. Each pattern is
detailed with examples that link to spe-
cific cases or other online resources that
provide more information.
Patterns can also link to other pat-
terns and thus describe groups and re-
lations. We visualise these relations in
the overall pattern language graph. It is
important to notice that the hierarchy
only visualises the main connections and
dependencies. To improve clarity, we do
not visualize all links that are mentioned
in the text.
LIMITATIONS
Given the ambitious scope of the report,
it has a number of limitations. Providing
a worldwide mapping of social media
practice in the field of public security
is, by definition, an impossible task. Not
only do we see the many law enforce-
ment agencies around the world apply
various practices, moreover, they evolve
rapidly. That is why this report cannot
list or group all practices and is certainly
incomplete. While we have insights into
many of the examples and practices
that we describe, we also cannot always
guarantee the quality of their implemen-
tation and whether or not a particular im-
plementation or example has delivered
the results that it promised.
We also have not developed a stand-
ard or system that would allow us to
specify the criteria that qualifies a prac-
tice to be listed. In this report, we rely on
the judgment of experts and practition-
ers in the field.
We have used the data that we gath-
ered to create a structure that supports
the presentation and communication
about the subject matter. The grouping
and the structure of the described prac-
tice, however, do not follow a strict sys-
tem and there are probably a number of
others ways to structure and group our
findings.
We further would like to point out that
we have not analysed the ethical or legal
implications of each individual practice.
Given these limitations, we do not
consider this report as an end, but rath-
er as a beginning and means to spark
discussions in the field of social media
and public security. We encourage prac-
titioners and researchers alike to ques-
tion our findings and contribute to our
understanding of this diverse and highly
dynamic field.

19
The Patterns
LEAS ADOPT
SOCIAL MEDIA
SOCIAL MEDIA
FOUNDATION
MAIN
ACCOUNT
SOCIAL MEDIA
STRATEGY
SOCIAL MEDIA
POLICIES
MODERN IT
INFRASTRUCTURE
MOBILE
DEVICES
SOCIAL
INTRANET
SOCIAL MEDIA
EDUCATION
CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATIONS
REPORT CRIME
ANONYMOUSLYCROWDSOURCE
CRIME TIPS
HOUSE TO
HOUSE
ANALYSING
SOCIAL MEDIA
UNDERCOVER
OPERATIONS
SUBPOENA
DATA
ENGAGEMENT &
COMMUNICATION
INFORMING
CITIZENS
ALERT
TOOL
HUMAN
SIDE
STORIES
EDUCATING
CITIZENS
BEING PREPARED
TWEETATHON
CRIMINALS ADOPT
SOCIAL MEDIA
PROPAGANDA
IDENTITY
THEFT & FRAUD
THREATENING
& RANSOM
PLANNING
CYBERBULLYING
& MOBBING
HATE
SPEECH
GANG
RECRUITMENT
FACEBOOK
THUGGING
CITIZENS ADOPT
SOCIAL MEDIA
DIY ACCOUNTS
NEIGHBOURHOOD
WATCH
DIY
INVESTIGATION
DIY JUSTICE
ORGANISE
PROTESTS
DIY
INTELLIGENCE
DIY CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
DIY
WATCH
DOG
STALKING
GROOMING
ROMANCE
SCAM
SEXTORTION
ILLEGAL
MARKET
PLACE
SOCIAL MEDIA
ANALYTICS
INTELLIGENCE
PREVENTION
ANSWERING
CITIZENS
CRIME
MAPPING
FACEBOOK
ADS
COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT
ONLINE
PATROL
TARGET GROUP
ENGAGEMENT
ORGANISE
VOLUNTEERING
PUBLIC
VOTINGTARGETED
ACCOUNTS
RECRUITMENT
ENFORCING
THE LAW
INTAKE
SEEK
CONNECT
HELP
FILTER LOCAL
SOURCES
SOCIAL MEDIA
MONITORING
CROWD
MANAGEMENT
LISTING MISSING
PEOPLE OR
CASUALTIES
CIVIL
SERVANTS
MONITORING
INCIDENT
MONITORING
WEBCARE
REPUTATION
MANAGEMENT
REASSURANCEREFUTE
RUMOURS
LOAD
BALANCE
REVENGE
PORN

21
Image Source: PSNI
LEAS ADOPT
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media have changed many aspects
of public and private lives and directly im-
pact public security.
Therefore, LEAs adopt social media and un-
derstand their relevance for their work. We
consider the adoption of social media by
public security organisations in themselves
a best practice.

22
The use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook or YouTube is
allowing the interaction between the citizens and the police as
we detail in ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION.
Social media also provide a data source for investigations, as
we detail in CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS.
Social media can also support ENFORCING THE LAW and
INTELLIGENCE activities of LEAs.
In our interviews and in previous work, we did not find a single
LEA that chose to adopt social media and later considered that
a bad decision. Instead, we find that organisations that initially
only used social media for a particular event or only for a special
purpose, later kept using it and adopted in broader ways than
originally planned. The police in Frankfurt, Germany, for exam-
ple, only used Facebook temporarily, but now runs a permanent
Facebook presence at:
àà https://www.facebook.com/PolizeiFrankfurt
A reason for LEAs for non-adoption of social media in inves-
tigations is the restriction that do not allow to access social
media from the workplace. According to Lexisnexis, access is
the single biggest driver for non-use in investigations, a factor
that has been increased from 2012 onwards:
àà http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/insights/law-enforcement-social-
media-infographic.aspx
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) introduced so-
cial media around 2011 in a bid to engage more meaningfully
with the community they serve. PSNI ran a pilot scheme with
Facebook pages in a number of areas before rolling out Face-
book and Twitter to all districts in Northern Ireland. There are
currently 32 PSNI Facebook accounts and 35 PSNI Twitter ac-
counts. As PSNI’s social media use has developed they have
also introduced a corporate Instagram account and a corporate
YouTube account. Engagement over the social media channels
has grown steadily and PSNI currently have a social media fol-
lowing of 612,805 people in a population of 1.8 million.

23
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajc1/6357759479
INTELLIGENCE
Social media contain a large amount of data
that might be relevant to public security.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to gather
intelligence.

24
Intelligence related practices: SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS.
Sometimes, UNDERCOVER OPERATIONS can be a part of
INTELLIGENCE, too.

25
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/makou0629/1145908929
SOCIAL MEDIA
ANALYTICS
High volumes of unstructured data and traf-
fic are generated from various social me-
dia before, during, and after an event or an
emergency incident period.
Therefore, LEAs use software tools for
data analytics for unstructured data with
machine learning that allows to search and
analyse text, images, audio, and video from
virtually any source uncovering trends, pat-
terns, and relationships.

26
UK’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) began a trial with HP
during the summer of the London Olympics to deploy industry
leading social media analytics tools (IDOL-Intelligent Data Op-
erating Layer) to manage high volume of data traffic produced
during the Olympic Games event period.
àà http://www8.hp.com/us/en/software-solutions/information-data-
analytics-idol
HP proposed this trial to help better understanding and uti-
lizing social media analysis (SMA) for community engagement.
àà http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA5-8755ENW.pdf
The BRIDGE EU project conducted research on an information
intelligence tool which aggregates, simulates, collects and anal-
yses social media live data coming from the fields of emergency
incidents.
According to a techcrunch report, police are increasingly us-
ing social media surveillance tools:
àà https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/23/police-are-increasingly-using-
social-media-surveillance-tools
Example tools:
■■ Palantir:
àà https://www.palantir.com/solutions/intelligence
■■ BlueJay:
àà https://brightplanet.com/bluejay
■■ LexisNexis:
àà http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/newsevents/press-release.
aspx?id=1381851197735305
■■ Analyst Notebook:
àà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfzJVY0wad8
Geotime and RiskMap are also used for analytics.
Tools can also use other data, not only social media sources.

27
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/7643017690
ENFORCING
THE LAW
Social media can support law enforcement
activities.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to dis-
cover people who violate the law or seem
to intend to do so.

28
The practice is detailed in the following descriptions:
■■ INTAKE
■■ SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING
■■ FILTER LOCAL SOURCES
■■ INCIDENT MONITORING
■■ CIVIL SERVANTS MONITORING
■■ CROWD MANAGEMENT
■■ LISTING MISSING PEOPLE OR CASUALTIES
■■ SEEK CONNECT HELP

29
Image Source: CC license by http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya
INTAKE
People are accustomed to use social me-
dia to communicate with each other and
to contact and interact with organisations.
Also they use it for reporting crime, crime
tips or other relevant information.
Therefore, LEAs use social media channels
such as apps or Twitter (DMs) to have peo-
ple submit information about incidents or
crimes.

30
Intake is most often done through websites, sometimes on a
national level in the Netherlands.
àà http://www.politie.nl
Individual UK forces, e.g. the Metropolitan Police, also use
online crime reporting.
àà https://online.met.police.uk
While not trusted by all forces, communication apps, e.g.
WhatsApp, have been used for such purpose in the Netherlands,
too.
The forces also issue specific emergency apps: e.g. Alert-
Cops (ES), Fress 112 (ES), Reporty (Isr) and other Police apps,
such as the national Dutch police app.
Use of WhatsApp for (non)emergency calls/reports in the
Netherlands:
àà https://www.politie.nl/nieuws/2016/maart/18/politie-zeeland-west-
brabant-naast-0900-8844-ook-via-whatsapp-bereikbaar.html
… and in India:
àà http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Jaipur-police-launch-
WhatsApp-helpline-for-people/articleshow/51813427.cms
Ushahidi, which translates to “testimony” in Swahili, was de-
veloped to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-elec-
tion violence in 2008.
àà https://www.ushahidi.com
Dutch cities provide an application called Buiten Beter where
residents report complaints to the municipality. Notifiers receive
a message on how the complaint is dealt with.
àà http://www.buitenbeter.nl
àà http://www.rotterdam.nl/Clusters/BSD/Directie20Veiligheid/
Document202014/Veilig010ENG.pdf

31
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/deltamike/567062831
LISTING
MISSING PEOPLE
OR CASUALTIES
In crisis situations the whereabouts of peo-
ple can be unknown.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to list
missing people or account for people.

32
Social media websites offer people to post their whereabouts
and look for people:
■■ Facebook Safety Check
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/facebook-safety-check
■■ Google Person Finder
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/google-person-finder
■■ The Netherlands Red Cross runs the site: ‘Ik ben veilig’
(I am safe)
àà http://www.ikbenveilig.nl

33
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/loozrboy/7311771718
SOCIAL MEDIA
MONITORING
Social media provide a sense of what is go-
ing on for public security planners (before,
during, or after incidents for example).
Therefore, LEAs monitor social media on
various security topics.

34
LEAs monitor social media for threats, incidents, rumours and
other critical information.
Monitoring is done at local, regional, national and international
levels to improve situational awareness. See report:
àà http://www.datacivilrights.org/pubs/2015-1027/Social_Media_
Surveillance_and_Law_Enforcement.pdf
Monitoring is done as an early warning mechanism, during
incidents and for monitoring the effects of LEA actions.
LEAs use (clusters of) keywords and/or geographic searches
on open social media sources to understand what is happening
and monitor them, as well as location- or event based threats.
During events, LEAs use tools to analyse mood and senti-
ments. The Police Service of Northern Ireland regularly moni-
tors social media for large scale events. The PSNI use Hootsuite
Insights, Facebook and Twitter.
In the Netherlands, there is the Social Media Firework monitor:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/vuurwerk-monitoring-jacht-op-hinder
LEAs also monitor social media memes that might become
a threat on an ad hoc basis, such as Project X, FireChallenge,
Planking, etc.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/category/memes-2
LEAs also monitor social media for death threats:
àà http://www.doodsbedreiging.nl
A special type of monitoring is INCIDENT MONITORING
This practice is can be performed using real-time social me-
dia monitoring and real-time contents.
■■ In the Netherlands, there is a Live Social Media Safety Mon-
itor (wijkmonitor):
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/vuurwerk-monitoring-jacht-op-hinder
■■ Live streaming video services, such as Periscope, also al-
low for monitoring:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/periscope-impact-op-veiligheid
The UK started an initiative to monitor social media for hate
crime:
àà https://t.co/D1FaurLO67
Monitoring is related to the following patterns:
■■ FILTER LOCAL SOURCES
■■ CIVIL SERVANTS MONITORING

35
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkroomproductions/5410984464
FILTER LOCAL
SOURCES
In crisis situations, social media is used by
local and remote people. In order to create
situational awareness it is important to dis-
tinguish between local and remote sources.
Therefore, LEAs identify people posting
from the ground or use algorithms that can
identify this behaviour.

36
A low-tech solution is to identify and list people who are known
to post from the ground. Algorithms can help to identify and
distinguish local sources from the overall social media conver-
sation around a topic. Source: Learning from the Crowd: Col-
laborative Filtering Techniques for Identifying On-the-Ground
Twitterers during Mass Disruptions. Kate Starbird, Grace Muzny,
Leysia Palen.

37
Image Source: CC license by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kecko/13984307012
INCIDENT
MONITORING
LEAs need to know the developments of an
incident.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to moni-
tor ongoing incidents or events.

38
LEAs are also creating hashtags for incidents as a way of chan-
nelling information.
Commercial offerings support incident monitoring
■■ Twitcident/PublicSonar
àà http://publicsonar.com
LEAs can create ‘dropboxes’ for incidents, such as LEEDIR or
micromapping software, such as Ushahidi:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/leedir
The Belgian Province of Walloon Brabant has sealed a partner-
ship with VISOV, a French-speaking Virtual Operations Support
Team #VOST, to provide them with support during a crisis in
terms of: sorting and detection of relevant images, analysis of
the general public’s crisis perception and behaviour, spatialisa-
tion via geo-targeting and diffusion of official messages.
àà http://www.visov.org

39
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/61076493
CIVIL
SERVANTS
MONITORING
Civil servants can use social media in ways
that are illegal or do not follow policies.
Therefore, LEAs monitor the social media
activities of their own people.

40
Police forces that run TARGETED ACCOUNTS are following
and monitoring these accounts to check whether the content
follows their policies and regulations.
Websites such as Facebook Fired list people who got fired
because of their social media postings (not only civil servants
and not limited to professional accounts).
àà http://www.thefacebookfired.com

41
Image Source: CC licence by https://www.flickr.com/photos/amy_elizabeth_west/3876549126
CROWD
MANAGEMENT
Large events require organisers to manage
crowds.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to man-
age crowds.

42
Twitter is most often the medium of choice to manage crowds.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/social-media-for-social-order-crowd-control-
bij-evenementen
For many years, the Rotterdam police has been using social
media during the Rotterdam Summer Carnival.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/zomer-carnaval-en-crowd-control
Another Dutch event is Glazen Huis, where LEAs have been
using social media for crowd control.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/glazen-huis-en-crowd-control
Also city officials in Amsterdam use social media for crowd
management.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/troonswisseling-veilig-door-feest
Dutch TNO organisation reports on using social media to di-
rect people.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/crowd-in-control
There are also apps that measure crowd density based on
social media and app usage.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/app-druktemeter
There are apps supporting the kettling tactic.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/sukey
The Police Service of Northern Ireland issue regular infor-
mation, traffic advice and “get home safe” advice in relation to
large events across their social media platforms. PSNI also is-
sue relevant traffic advice while events are ongoing.

43
Image Source: www.pexels.com
SEEK
CONNECT HELP
In crisis situations there are people seeking
resources and those who want to provide
them.
Therefore, LEAs use social media as a plat-
form that connect seekers with people and
organisations who can help with temporary
housing, medical resources, etc.

44
During the Haiti Earthquake 2010, Twitter became a tool for
devdentralised coordination:
■■ In: Learning from on-the-ground medical twitterers during
the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Aleksandra Sarcevic, Leysia
Palen, Joanne White, Kate Starbird, Mossaab Bagdouri and
Kenneth Anderson.
During the 2016 Munich shooting, public transport was
stopped and people from outside the city could not leave and
needed a place to stay. Through Twitter, people offered their
homes for temporary stays.
There is a danger that such system can be abused by third
parties who have other interests (terrorist seeking a place to
hide).

45
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/franziska/253254397
SOCIAL MEDIA
FOUNDATION
Social media adaptation requires a solid or-
ganisational foundation.
Therefore, LEAs prepare themselves by in-
troducing social media strategy, infrastruc-
ture, organisation, and education.

46
Social media adaptation requires a set of practices and infra-
structure that prepare the organisation and create an infrastruc-
ture on which social media adaptation thrives.
The following practice patterns provide details on this:
■■ SOCIAL MEDIA EDUCATION
■■ MAIN ACCOUNT
■■ SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
■■ SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES
■■ MODERN IT INFRASTRUCTURE
■■ MOBILE DEVICES
■■ LOAD BALANCE
■■ SOCIAL INTRANET

47
Image Source: www.pexels.com/photo/rear-view-of-man-working-in-office-256401/
SOCIAL MEDIA
EDUCATION
Using social media requires new knowl-
edge and skills.
Therefore, LEAs run trainings and have sim-
ulated environments to make officers famil-
iar with how to make best use of it.

48
One way of training is the simulation of postings on social media
by creating messages and contents that a LEA would post, e.g.
for a TWEETATHON. This allows reviewing the created mes-
sages in terms of content and style. Zurich police prepared their
TWEETATHON in the same manner.
Aside from internal training, there are Blab video conferences
(search blab & police on Twitter):
àà https://twitter.com/lawscomm/status/727519273938214912
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) runs social
media awareness and Hootsuite training for every social media
user. Social media users only receive access to Hootsuite after
the training is completed. At the time of writing, the PSNI Digital
Hub were working with District Trainers to design and implement
a refresher training package for established social media users.
The Digital Hub also anticipate creating practice FB and Twitter
pages for social media users to practice in during training ses-
sions.

49
Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/lg-smartphone-instagram-social-media-35177/
MAIN
ACCOUNT
When using social media, the questions are
not only how to create and organise social
media accounts, but also how to develop a
wide reach for the accounts.
Therefore, LEAs set up one main account
per social network for an organisation in-
stead of departmental accounts.

50
Setting up one main account per social network for an organisa-
tion instead of departmental accounts allows building a shared
follower base. Departmental accounts (e.g. for recruiting) often
lack followers and therefore have a limited reach. Main accounts
are then used as the central point of communication.
As an exception, there are also forces that use two accounts,
such as the Berlin police force that use an additional Twitter
account for cases when it posts many messages of a special
incident; this is, however, rare. Compare:
àà https://twitter.com/PolizeiBerlin
àà https://twitter.com/PolizeiBerlin_E
To address specific local issues and create a more person-
al social media presence, LEAs use a number of TARGETED
ACCOUNTS.

51
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrielsaldana
SOCIAL MEDIA
STRATEGY
Effective and efficient social media use re-
quires goals and an action plan.
Therefore, LEAs define a strategy that de-
fines issues, goals, and action plans.

52
Like any good strategy, a social media strategy should include
the following aspects:
■■ Analysis of the status quo and identification of the issues to
address with social media
■■ Describe goals that are “SMART” (Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)
■■ Policies and a concrete action plan of how to reach these
goals
While some forces define a strategy before they become ac-
tive on social media, police forces at the forefront of adoption
run experimental projects first, and derive strategy at a later
stage.
There are several social media police strategy documents,
see Social Media DNA book Chapter 6 and Belgium (Gent):
àà http://www.socialmediadna.nl/book
àà http://www.slideshare.net/socialmediadna/sociale-
mediastrategiepolitie
Based on the strategy, it is possible to develop SOCIAL
MEDIA POLICIES.

53
Image Source: PSNI
SOCIAL MEDIA
POLICIES
Social media usage must respect the legal
framework of an organisation, it might re-
quire official approval and is carried out by
a larger group of people who might have
different ideas of how to use it.
Therefore, LEAs create social media pol-
icies and guidelines that describe how to
act on social media. Policies describe for
example communication with citizens and
legal aspects of investigations.

54
The IACP Center for social media provides a guideline for policy
making documents:
àà http://www.iacpsocialmedia.org/GettingStarted/PolicyDevelopment.
aspx
Model Policy developed by the International Association of
Chiefs of Police (IACP):
àà http://www.iacpsocialmedia.org/Portals/1/documents/Social%20
Media%20Policy.pdf
Guideline by NSW Police Force, Australia:
àà http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/file/0010/261874/
Official_Use_of_Social_Media_Policy.pdf
Not security specific EC guideline on social media policies:
àà http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/docs/guidelines_social_media_en
Belgian government policy:
àà http://communicatie.vlaanderen.be/nlapps/docs/default.asp?fid=171
Tips:
àà http://www.slideshare.net/socialmediadna/dos-and-donts-twitter
àà http://www.slideshare.net/socialmediadna/twittertips201
àà http://www.slideshare.net/socialmediadna/twittertips202
àà http://www.slideshare.net/socialmediadna/twitterdosanddonts
Dutch handbook for communication in crisis situations:
àà http://www.ifv.nl/kennisplein/sociale-media/publicaties/handboek-
communicatie-in-crisissituaties

55
Image Source: Pixabay
MODERN IT
INFRASTRUCTURE
Social media use often requires the integra-
tion with existing LEA services, mobile com-
puting, software and real-time information.
Therefore, LEAs update their IT infrastruc-
ture and toolbox to enable social media
usage.

56
German Bavarian Police are currently introducing SAP Hana, an
in-memory database system.
àà http://news.sap.com/germany/bayerische-polizei-nutzt-kunftig-sap-
hana-als-plattform-fur-effektivere-polizeiarbeit
The Guardia Civil in Spain implement a system named SIGO
which has been developed by Accenture to provide for integrat-
ed police info and operations management.
àà https://www.accenture.com/t20160519T222108__w__/ie-en/_
acnmedia/Accenture/Conversion-Assets/DotCom/Documents/Global/
PDF/Industries_9/Accenture-Interview-Antonio-Barragan-SIGO.pdf
àà https://www.accenture.com/us-en/success-spanish-civil-guard-
summary
The infrastructure often enables the use of MOBILE
DEVICES.

57
Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/apple-devices-cellphone-close-up-electronics-341523/
MOBILE
DEVICES
The use of social media during the day re-
quires officers to have mobile Internet.
Therefore, LEAs equip their officers with
smartphones or tablets with mobile Internet
access.

58
Increasingly LEAs equip every officer with a mobile device.
One concept is to make street cops effective on the street:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/meos
The Guardia Civil in Spain, for example, has deployed 3,000
mobile units to allow officers to remotely access vital informa-
tion at anytime.
Some organisations hand out additional devices for social me-
dia use. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) uses iPads
and iPhones to post and engage on social media. PSNI officers
and staff do not have access to social media on their common
terminals or through their work issued Blackberry devices. Dis-
tricts and Departments within PSNI have been responsible for
purchasing devices for their own users. PSNI iPads are set up
by PSNI ICS (Information Communication Systems) to prevent
downloads of unapproved apps. Devices are also enrolled in
Airwatch, a system which enables location, remote wiping and
remote password reset. Recently, PSNI encountered an issue
on non-compatibility of first and second generation devices with
current apps resulting in the need to purchase new devices. Ide-
ally PSNI would like to find a long term and cost efficient solution
to replacing devices.

59
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/atomictaco/7960716222
LOAD
BALANCE
In a crisis situation, the attention of the in-
ternational public can easily exceed server
capabilities of a local authority.
Therefore, LEAs use social media channels
as an extra communication infrastructure
that can handle heavy server loads.

60
During Christmas of 2010, the Avon and Somerset Constabulary
had to deal with high peaks in demand because of the murder
case of Joanna Yeates, who went missing and later was found
dead. In that case, the public’s interest overwhelmed the rented
infrastructure for the website making it inaccessible during peak
times. The police therefore chose to use a set of social me-
dia accounts to publish important information. YouTube served
as the network to distribute CCTV footage and ask the public
for information. The police also actively used Twitter and Face-
book to communicate. After the first suspect turned out to be
uninvolved, the police chose to publish a message on Twitter
only after they had captured the second suspect and collected
enough evidence to charge him with the murder. The carefully
crafted tweet (“We have charged Vincent Tabak with the murder
of Joanna Yeates #joyeates #yeates www.avonandsomerset.po-
lice.uk jo”) went immediately viral and spread across the Inter-
net. Using this set of social media accounts allowed the police
to be the central voice and remain communicating even in cases
when their own website was unreachable. (Source: COMPOSITE
Project)
In 2011, the Norwegian police used Flickr for image search in
the Utoya case. Children on that Island could not get through to
112 and the only thing they could do was to use Twitter and oth-
er means to express their need for help and provide information
on the situation.

61
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/ru/setevoi-rasem-svyas-487699/
SOCIAL
INTRANET
Social media offer the ability to im-
prove internal knowledge exchange and
communication.
Therefore, LEAs introduce internal (enter-
prise) social media solutions that help them
share information/knowledge and collabo-
rate internally.

62
In the Netherland Politie+ (NL) is a social intranet based on an
open source software platform.
Others use commercial tool such as Yammer or BlueLine Grid
(US).
àà https://www.bluelinegrid.com
For knowledge storage and sharing, LEAs also use internal
police wikis.

63
Image Source: CC license https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcemergencyphotos/6583466115
CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATIONS
Social media can help solve crimes in var-
ious ways.
Therefore, LEAs make social media part of
their investigation methods.

64
We describe the various ways of supporting investigations in
these related patterns:
■■ CROWDSOURCE CRIME TIPS
■■ REPORT CRIME ANONYMOUSLY
■■ HOUSE TO HOUSE
■■ ANALYSING SOCIAL MEDIA
■■ UNDERCOVER OPERATIONS
■■ SUBPOENA DATA

65
UNDERCOVER
OPERATIONS
Investigations can require interacting with
suspects in covert operations.
Therefore, LEAs create fake online perso-
na to impersonate people and befriend sus-
pects under cover.

66
This pattern requires a SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY that clarifies
the legal aspects and procedures. The question of whom to im-
personate and which photos and content to use needs to be
answered within the legal framework. Usually, this requires a
court order.
During the 2011 UK riots police used Flickr for image search
of offenders. See report:
àà http://www.datacivilrights.org/pubs/2015-1027/Social_Media_
Surveillance_and_Law_Enforcement.pdf
Example in ISIS Facebook case (jurisprudence for undercover
operations in social media):
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/politie-mag-middels-gefingeerde-accounts-
rechercheren
Dark Web FBI operation Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0 operation
“Onymous”:
àà https://www.wired.com/2015/01/silk-road-trial-undercover-dhs-fbi-
trap-ross-ulbricht
àà https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Onymous
In DIY JUSTICE this is a common practice too: Anonymous
and paedophile hunters:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/category/diydetectives
Under cover operations in Facebook gangs:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/internet-banging
Sometimes undercover operations are used as an INTELLI-
GENCE gathering tool, prior to criminal investigations.

67
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/6863172432
CROWDSOURCE
CRIME TIPS
Bystanders and witnesses may have infor-
mation that is relevant to crime investiga-
tions or address security challenges.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to ask
the public for help, targeted or not.

68
Equipped with smartphones, bystanders and witnesses may
capture information that is relevant to crime investigations or
address security challenges.
LEAs use social media to ask the public for help, e.g. report
of responsible officer (Boston Marathon Attack), identification
of suspects (2011 UK riots), or create a special site to submit
information (2016 Munich shooting).
LEAs use police websites to ask citizens for their help in solv-
ing cases (e.g. politie.nl in the Netherlands). The public can give
tips or describe their understanding of the event (what the sce-
nario was). People will be kept informed of new developments
in the case.
Another type of crowdsourcing crime tips is done by using the
traditional media (TV) in conjunction with social media, like the
second screen with the Dutch programme ‘Opsporing Verzocht’
(NL).
Using social media for crime tips submission, is, however, not
a practice that police forces encourage, as they do not want
sensitive information to be submitted publicly or via corporate
systems. The Police Service Nothern Ireland (PSNI) regularly is-
sue appeals, updates on arrests and charges and crime preven-
tion information on their social media channels. PSNI, however,
do not accept reports of crime on their social media. The public
are advised to contact police by phone to report crime.
LEAs create podcasts to make crime cases public and ask
citizens for help.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/podcast-serial-met-een-echte-moordzaak
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/de-verslavende-werking-van-serial
“Crowdsolve” is a platform designed to help solve crimes:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/crowdsolve
LEAs use Pinterest to share wanted people lists:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/pinterest
In the UK, an online portal, enabling police and communities
to work together towards reducing crime, is provided through
the Facewatch ID app. The police post images of the individuals
they are seeking to identify. The individuals pictured are being
sought as both persons of interest and witnesses to crimes.
àà https://facewatchid.info
The Dutch Burgernet provides a mobile service where peo-
ple can register to receive police messages asking to be on
the lookout. Burgernet is a national NL initiative; a cooperation
between police, municipalities, and citizens. Participants of
Burgernet (citizens that joined Burgernet as a member) receive
a voice or text message with the request to look for a person or
vehicle in their area.
àà http://www.burgernet.nl
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/burgernet
The Spanish National Police official webpage has a section
for citizen collaboration, to report allegedly criminal facts. This
report is not equivalent to a formal report, and is confidential.
àà http://www.policia.es/colabora.php

69
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/nolagirl1969/12147810455
HOUSE
TO
HOUSE
When doing house-to-house calls, most
people are not home, and it takes a lot of
effort.
Therefore, LEAs perform house-to-house
enquiries using social media.

70
Sometimes people are already organised in a social media
group such as Facebook or WhatsApp, but also they use other
means to reach a local community, for example through cell
broadcasted SMS or a police app where citizens have registered
using their postal code.
Email lists are also commonly used to reach out to local com-
munities, and some Twittercops use lists of local community
members to reach out to.
Examples:
■■ From SMS bomb to Police app:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/digitaal-buurtonderzoek-van-sms-bom-tot-
politie-app
■■ Whatsapp:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/whatsapp-buurtwacht
■■ Study on possibilities of implementing digital house to
house (Dutch only):
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/cocreatie-2-0/
■■ “Digitaal buurtonderzoek”
àà https://www.politieacademie.nl/onderwijs/overdescholen/
spl/opsporingscafes/opsporingscommunicatie/Paginas/
Opsporingscommunicatie.aspx

71
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/3209823136
REPORT CRIME
ANONYMOUSLY
Witnesses and victims might not want to be
identified when reporting crimes.
Therefore, LEAs offer channels or tools to
report crimes anonymously.

72
In the UK, there is the CrimeStoppers initiative:
àà https://crimestoppers-uk.org
In the Netherlands, there is MeldMisdaadAnoniem:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/bambuser
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/m

73
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielaguilar/2968034304
ANALYSING
SOCIAL MEDIA
Information on social media can help solve
crimes.
Therefore, LEAs monitor and analyse data
on social media that is relevant for crime
cases.

74
Note: This practice is similar to MONITORING and SOCIAL
MEDIA ANALYTICS, but in this case specific in the scope of
a crime case.
Possible uses are:
■■ Gathering of (digital forensic) evidence
■■ Finding perpetrators
■■ Finding acts of criminal offenses
■■ Profiling by using data of social media sources
■■ Social Network analysis (SNA)
iRN, the internet Recherche or Research Network used open
source tools investigations (other tools are available as well, but
are mostly classified), see:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/irn-internet-research-netwerk
Reference to usage figures:
àà https://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/downloads/whitepaper/2014-social-
media-use-in-law-enforcement.pdf
Analysis is also done for non-criminal purposes. The city of
Lausanne, in partnership with Addiction Suisse and the Idiap
Research Institute, has developed a project of data mining in
“Foursquare” to study the behaviour of people at night, to bet-
ter target awareness actions, including the work of night corre-
spondents, and to document the use of Lausanne night weekend
nights.
àà http://www.addictionsuisse.ch/recherche-scientifique/youthnight

75
Image Source: EFF
SUBPOENA
DATA
Sometimes it is necessary for law enforce-
ment to gain access to private information
stored on social networks.
Therefore, following court orders, LEAs
can request data from social network
providers.

76
This practice becomes visible in transparency reports from Ap-
ple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/transparancy-reports

77
Image Source: CC license by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/codeforamerica/25355387251
ENGAGEMENT &
COMMUNICATION
Social media offer the possibility to directly
communicate with citizen bi-directionally.
Therefore, LEAs use various ways of com-
municating and directly engaging with
citizens.

78
Engagement and Communication is typically done via:
■■ WEBCARE
■■ RECRUITMENT
■■ COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
■■ INFORMING CITIZENS

79
Image Source: Politie Eenheid Rotterdam
INFORMING
CITIZENS
LEAs need to inform citizens.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to spread
information to citizens directly through so-
cial media.

80
Many police forces provide regular information to the public
through their local and corporate social media channels about
crime, policing successes, daily policing experiences, human
experiences and local events.
Informing citizens is detailed in the following patterns:
■■ TWEETATHON
■■ HUMAN SIDE STORIES
■■ CRIME MAPPING
■■ FACEBOOK ADS
■■ PREVENTION
■■ EDUCATING CITIZENS
■■ ANSWERING CITIZENS
■■ ALERT TOOL
■■ CROWDSOURCE CRIME TIPS

81
Image Source: Hanover Police
HUMAN SIDE
STORIES
Normally news media report different on
law enforcement activities. LEAs would like
to tell their own story. This can stimulate
the (in)formal relation between citizens
and your organisation and make it more
humane.
Therefore, LEAs communicate the human
side of daily experiences and share a more
personal picture of their work.

82
Examples include behind-the-scenes photos, related aspects
(e.g. stories of police dogs).
Post human side stories on Facebook and Twitter: e.g. “Police
officers in Rome cook dinner for an elderly couple”:
àà https://www.facebook.com/questuradiroma/posts/1014697258638294
Copblogs: In blogs police officers tell stories about their daily
work and how it effects them. These blogs show the person
behind the police officer: ‘Politieverhalen’.
Police stories on Youtube:
àà https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnk0uCZqeOMmUnZn6-
Y4Nrt5SBS4yQaF6
PSNI Instagram highlights local radio presenters spending
time with police:
àà https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ0EiAsDkzF/?tagged=psni
PSNI instagram highlights partnership work at a public event:
àà https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ-Ll7ljqxU/?tagged=psni
PSNI share human interest, behind the scenes and daily po-
licing stories on an ongoing basis across all their social media
channels.

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PREVENTION
Spreading preventive information can im-
prove public security.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to share
information to explain citizens how to in-
crease their safety.

84
YouTube prevention information, such as Modus operandi for
burglaries:
àà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubH8oViMFFk
Get Home Safe Advice by the Police Service of Northern Ire-
land
àà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij6u5-pkU_E
Dutch examples:
■■ Twitter and Facebook theme pages, such as the one on
Human trafficking:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/mensenhandel
àà http://kenjevrienden.nu
àà http://www.digibewust.nl
àà https://www.digivaardigdigiveilig.nl
àà http://mijnkindonline.nl
àà http://www.aardigdigivaardig.nl
àà http://www.digitaalpesten.nl
àà http://www.kennisnet.nl/themas/mediawijsheid/dont-worry-be-
whatshappy
Videos by the Zurich Police:
àà https://www.facebook.com/StadtpolizeiZH/videos

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CRIME
MAPPING
Seeing physical locations of crimes can
help to understand safety issues.
Therefore, LEAs provide digital maps and
share these on social media to point to
crimes.

86
The website of the UK Police provides information on crime map-
ping throughout the UK.
àà www.police.uk
Berlin police posts map of pick pocketing.
àà https://www.facebook.com/PolizeiBerlin/posts/565257776991664
The RedZone map helps people to get around the city in a
safe way, by preventing red zones where crime is happening
most frequently.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/redzone-map
Maps also communicate results of predictive policing maps
such as the Kapo Aargau app (Switzerland).
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/kapo-aargau

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ALERT TOOL
In various cases, there is information that is
time critical for citizens.
Therefore, LEAs use tools to inform citi-
zens about time critical information. This
allows to inform citizens fast, even when
there is no or only a slow response by pub-
lic security organisations. It also allows to
overcome linguistic problems and is availa-
ble for citizens with disabilities.

88
Amber Alert: Facebook Amber Alert
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/amber-alert-op-facebook
Burgernet is a plattform for Dutch citizens:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/burgernet
Ads on Facebook to warn tourists for white drugs:
àà http://www.socialmediadna.org/ads
Weather alert: The official Twitter of the Cabinet of emergen-
cy communication and security of the Valencian Community
offers information and useful advice to face the problems of a
climatic event:
àà http://www.abc.es/espana/comunidad-valenciana/abci-
cuatro-pequenos-incendios-alicante-y-valencia-jornada-calor-
sofocante-201607311759_noticia.html
àà http://www.europapress.es/comunitat-valenciana/noticia-lluvias-
dejan-cerca-30-litros-metro-cuadrado-cortes-pallas-20160810133001.
html
Example after 2016 Munich shooting:
àà https://twitter.com/PolizeiMuenchen/status/756535565223354370
(Text reads: +++ATTENTION+++ Avoid the area around the
#OEZ [A shopping mall]. Stay in your apartments. Leave the
streets!+++)
The South Eastern Europe Disaster Risk Mitigation and Ad-
aptation Programme (SEEDRMAP) was used for alerting during
natural disasters in South Eastern Europe.

89
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ANSWERING
CITIZENS
Citizens have questions for law enforce-
ment agencies but typically do not ask, be-
cause it is difficult to do so.
Therefore, LEAs answer citizen’s questions
in special (mostly chat) sessions and pro-
vide answers to frequently asked questions
online or through an app.

90
Ask the Police (UK): Website and app information resource con-
tain answers to a wide variety of the general public’s most fre-
quently asked policing questions. “The website provides links
to relevant national organisations plus the facility to rate the
answer and email a specific question directly which will be an-
swered within 24 working hours. Police forces are able to in-
put additional local police information and advice for the ben-
efit of their communities.” (Source: https://www.askthe.police.uk/
content/@1.htm).
The Vraagdepolitie.nl website in the Netherlands includes cha-
trooms and almost weekly theme sessions on certain crime
types.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) run Twitter
hours where the public can ask questions and seek advice from
police. The most regular Twitter hour is with the Chief Constable
@ChiefConPSNI, using the hashtag #AskChiefCon. These are
run twice a year. Other command teams at District Level also
run their own Twitter hours.
The Belgian @CrisisCenterBE was replying to citizens during
the Brussels bombing and at the same time would use Twitter
and Facebook to spread valuable information for 2-4 weeks af-
ter the attacks.

91
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EDUCATING
CITIZENS
People do not know the risks of social me-
dia for their safety.
Therefore, LEAs offer education, particu-
larly to children and parents to use the in-
ternet in a responsible way.

92
The Spanish National Police and Google cooperate to offer talks
to schoolchildren about the opportunities, risks and tools that
the Internet presents in order to use it in a responsible way. Iden-
tify theft and harassment are the most frequent cyber crimes
suffered by teenagers.
■■ McGruff The Crime Dog is aimed at educating children:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/mcgruff
■■ Kash Dash:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/kash-dash
■■ Eye witness game: Hero or Zero:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/kroongetuige-game-hero-of-zero
■■ Tumnpas Terrorism Game trains you to detect deviant be-
haviour:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/tumpas-teroris-game
■■ App Most Wanted helps you to train yourself to recognize
faces:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/most-wanted
As part of his many activities in the field, Thomas Gabriel
Rüdiger of the Police Academy Brandenburg runs seminars in
German schools on cyber GROOMING.
The Valencia Local Police, in their task to protect the citizens,
disseminate information about the risks resulting from an irre-
sponsible use of the Internet and the social media through talks
in the schools of Valencia.
àà http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2720930/0/tribunal-supremo-redes-
sociales-escenario-inimaginable-abusos-sexuales-menores
àà http://www.europapress.es/navarra/noticia-detenida-menor-difundir-
redes-sociales-fotos-companera-semides-20160505104429.html
The Police Service of Northern Ireland share information
about internet and online safety on an ongoing basis across
their social media channels.
àà https://www.facebook.com/PSNI.Newry.Mourne
In the City of Limoges, the local security and prevention of
crime strategy includes actions to educate students about the
danger of using social media and internet in general.
In the City of Montreuil, the local security and prevention of
crime strategy includes crime prevention among youth exposed
to delinquency and violence, through a professional network to
develop activities to educate about use of internet and inform
about its consequences.
The city of Blois, describes how young people are unaware
of these risks by digital technology and internet practices most
often unknown by parents. To raise awareness of the use of
social media by young people, the city of Blois have developed a
project to educate young people through the theatre.

93
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FACEBOOK
ADS
In special cases LEAs need to interact with
selected audiences.
Therefore, LEAs use Facebook advertising
to reach specific target audiences.

94
This has been used by Dutch police forces to specifically ad-
dress defined target groups.
àà http://www.socialmediadna.org/ads

95
Image Source: Sebastian Denef
TWEETATHON
Citizens have little insight into what govern-
ment organisations are doing.
Therefore, LEAs, for a defined time peri-
od (usually 24 hours), post many updates
about what they are doing on Twitter (that
they typically would not report).

96
This can also be used to draw attention to a specific topic (e.g.
reporting on a certain type of theft). Typically, organisations
post several hundred messages in this time period and run a
press campaign.
This also helps to promote novel social media channels. A
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY is very helpful. This has been done
by e.g. the Manchester Police Force, Zurich Police Force, Berlin
Police Force, PSNI
There is also a global initiative:
àà http://poltwt.net
àà http://lawscommunications.com/category/global-police-tweet-a-thon

97
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BEING
PREPARED
Crisis situations require LEAs to inform cit-
izens promptly.
Therefore, LEAs prepare for crises situa-
tions by developing message templates
they can use in crises situations.

98
The city police in Zurich have prepared for sending messages in
multiple languages in order to inform citizens and visitors of the
city in case of an emergency situation.
Police forces use the 2011 riots in Manchester and the 2016
shooting in Munich as examples of the messages they need to
share in times of crisis.
Before the 2011 riots, the police in Manchester had prepared
contents that could be posted in case of backfires on social
media.

99
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COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT
For community organisers, it is important
to build close and personal relationships
with certain stakeholders and citizens.
Therefore, LEAs use social media on a lo-
cal or personal level (e.g. per district) and
in combination with physical meetings, al-
lowing officers to directly connect with the
local community and local partners.

100
One initiative is called CoffeeCop or Coffee with a Cop:
àà http://coffeewithacop.com
PopUp Police Station: pop-up police station in a mall, or some-
where on the street: e.g. “local policeman Wilco Berenschot has
office hours on the street in Rotterdam, tweets abundantly and
skypes with citizens”.
The following newspaper article shows how this is not suc-
cessful in the UK:
àà http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-pop-up-police-stations-
fallen-3130329
Mobile Media Lab (NL): The Mobile Media Lab (mobile by us-
ing a truck) is used to investigate the thoughts and experiences
of citizens about the various means of communication which the
police use. Think of the website politie.nl, Police app, folders or
social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter).
àà https://www.politie.nl/themas/mobile-media-lab.html
E.g. Greater Manchester Police:
àà http://www.gmp.police.uk/content/WebsitePages/6C386353FE565CCF
80257B48004ABAF5?OpenDocument
Zurich police department has two community police officers
who spend 50% of their time online and run personal accounts.
àà http://www.persoenlich.com/prcorporate-communication/unsere-
naivitat-und-kreativitat-sind-teil-des-erfolgs
Nextdoor (US):
àà https://nextdoor.com/agency
PSNI use local Facebook and Twitter accounts to actively en-
gage with local communities and and provide direct to audience
accounts of daily policing. Eg:
àà https://www.facebook.com/PSNI.Down
àà https://www.facebook.com/PSNI.FoyleThe
City of Rotterdam developed an application called Buurt
Bestuurt to inform and involve residents in finding solutions for
security problems of the neighbourhood. Residents can also use
the app to send their suggestions, messages to the committee
and also for NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH.
àà http://www.buurtbestuurt.nl
Safetipin is a very new free map-based mobile phone appli-
cation, developed in Delhi, which collects and shares safety-re-
lated information posted by users. It builds on the premise that
community participation and engagement will make our cities
safer. Safetipin is available globally and automatically provides a
local map to smartphones using GPS.
àà http://safetipin.com/about/whatIsSafetipin
Talk London has been created by city hall as a place to dis-
cuss London’s big issues. The city looks for public opinions to
help steer the big policy decisions of the future: on housing, the
environment, transport, safety, jobs and the economy.
àà http://talklondon.london.gov.uk/topics/safety-0
The city of Paris has launched a platform to associate Par-
is residents in major decisions concerning the development of
their city including security.
àà https://idee.paris.fr/co-construisons-paris
This practice requires the creation of TARGETED
ACCOUNTS.
There are several countries in which this practice has not (yet)
been introduced, as it is uncommon for officers to post publicly,
if they are not press officers.

101
TARGET GROUP
ENGAGEMENT
Sometimes LEAs need to interact with a
special target group.
Therefore, LEAs use social media and spe-
cial applications to interact with groups like
students or refugees.

102
Informing refugees: Refugees need information and guidelines
during their movement routes and settlement procedure for
their own and overall public safety. Mercy Corps, in partnership
with Google, The International Rescue Committee and other
organisations, developed, a multilingual website for refugees
moving through Europe. The website includes all relevant infor-
mation and is the default landing web page on Wi-Fi hotspots in
refugee camps. It uses current information and the geolocation
of the person to provide relevant information. The site provides
information about common milestones on the route, including
registration and asylum processes, emergency contacts, cur-
rency details and where to find water, lodging, medical care and
other local services. The website is the first thing people see
when they connect to the Wi-Fi hotspots many partners host
throughout the region. It can detect the location of the person
accessing the site, and it is updated daily to reflect constant
shifts in conditions and laws, like restrictions on movements and
refugee camp closures.
àà https://refugeeinfo.eu
StudentAlert: During the introduction week for new students
in Groningen, the Netherlands (KEI-week) in 2016, the Dutch po-
lice set up a WhatsApp number (StudentAlert) to provide the
students during this period with information on security issues
that are important to them.
àà https://www.politie.nl/nieuws/2016/augustus/15/veilige-kei-week-
whatsapp-met-de-politie.html
Beach Alert: WhatsApp number for people that go to the
beach and want to be informed or engage with police through
WhatsApp.
Pokemon Go neighbourhood watch:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/pokemon-go
àà https://twitter.com/FrankSmilda/status/763786561267924993
Vraaghetdepolitie.nl is a website and YouTube channel specifi-
cally aimed at youth. Well known vloggers (video bloggers) help
launch the website on “Vloggers vragenvuur”:
àà https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHPZxlXruRwKCaoEm5HyTI
5XjWNU22zmn

103
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TARGETED
ACCOUNTS
Personal interaction requires a smaller
community of people to address.
Therefore, LEAs set up local accounts or
specific channels/platforms to address a
smaller community. Often, these accounts
are related to a district of a city or a specif-
ic group of people (e.g. students).

104
The Greater Manchester Police has been an early adopter of
using local accounts. You can find the list of their accounts here:
àà http://www.gmp.police.uk/content/WebsitePages/6C386353FE565CCF
80257B48004ABAF5?OpenDocument
In the Netherlands, there are these categories of accounts:
■■ Neighbourhood accounts: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or
Instagram.
■■ Twitcop accounts: from just one neighbourhood “twitcop”
to 2000+ accounts per local unit. Research on community/
neighbourhood officers using Twitter can also be found in
the MEDIA4SEC deliverables D1.2.
àà http://wijkagent.twittergids.nl
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/twittercops
■■ Theme accounts (on themes such as burglaries, etc). Those
are just police accounts.
■■ Public prosecution also has accounts per region, some-
times a public prosecutor has a personal account and there
are some theme accounts (as for human trafficking):
àà http://www.politieenwetenschap.nl/download/sSWg08So9wKUBBpKO
WwnQ6j3qozOzl5OTlwwOLJt/bOLYjnTTlb5SOTe84hf5fwqCVLC49UyK
dNnHfOI9 (Page 65)
■■ Account for special purposes: e.g. Twitter accounts of po-
lice helicopters allow communication with people with aim
to reduce complaints about the noise. Police forces in the
UK and the U.S. also have special accounts, such as for a
K9 unit. Sometimes police animals even have social media
accounts to improve the image of the police.
àà https://twitter.com/DePolitieheli
àà https://twitter.com/PSNIAirSupport
àà https://twitter.com/PolitiehondRdam
àà https://twitter.com/pdteal
Police Service of Northern Ireland have 32 Facebook accounts
which include accounts for 30 local policing areas, a Roads Po-
licing account and a corporate PSNI Facebook account. There
are 35 Twitter accounts which include accounts for 30 local
policing areas, a corporate account, a Roads Policing account,
an Air Support account and accounts for the Chief Constable
and one of the Assistant Chief Constables.
Initially Facebook accounts for each of the areas were set up
as pages and ‘ghost’ Facebook profiles that enabled users to
post to pages, however, an issue was identified when the PSNI
could not discern which user was posting to the page. Facebook
also actively seek out ghost profiles and delete them, meaning
that access to the pages was constantly at risk. This led to the
introduction of social media management tool, Hootsuite. Hoot-
suite allows PSNI social media to be managed centrally. PSNI
officers and staff have no access to social media through their
common terminals so can only use their PSNI-issued mobile de-
vices (iPads or iPhones). Social media is not accessible to users
through their work mobile phones (Blackberrys) and they are
not allowed to use their personal devices. Hootsuite is available
as an app and in a desktop version. The two versions feature
different functions so PSNI social media users have to switch be-
tween the applications to get full functionality. Complaints from
officers who previously had access to the native FB and Twitter
apps are frequent.
PSNI conducted a survey on Facebook and Twitter last year to
ask the public in Northern Ireland what they wanted from PSNI
social media. The majority of people surveyed indicated that
they preferred a local police social media presence which pro-
vided local information about crime and police activities in the
area they lived in. Local police officers and staff are trained to
post on their local social media sites, ensuring that the commu-
nity are engaging with their local police.
The Zurich city police has introduced two social media cops in
2016, the first German-posting online community policing cops:
àà https://www.facebook.com/eli.stapo
àà https://www.facebook.com/stapojean

105
Image Source: Sebastian Denef / Boudewijn Mayeur
ONLINE
PATROL
Citizens spend more and more of their time
in various online spaces.
Therefore, LEAs understand social media
as a public space in which they need to pa-
trol to have visible presences that ensure
that the online space is not free of laws.

106
Boudewijn Mayeur of the Politie Limburg-Zuid in the Netherlands
has been running a virtual police station in Habbo Hotel, a social
game network, frequented by children.
Finnish police forces were one of the first to have police forc-
es that are dedicated to patrol the online space.
The Zurich police force, starting in 2016, has two officers who
spend 50% of their time in online networks.
This practice is emerging and is not yet widely practiced by
police forces yet.

107
Image Source: Flickr
PUBLIC
VOTING
LEAs need to focus their resources in ac-
cordance with needs of local communities.
Therefore, LEAs initiate polls on social
media to let citizens take part in deci-
sion-making processes. This helps to gath-
er citizens’ ideas, influence authorities, and
refine strategies.

108
Dutch Police launch a campaign “You Ask, We’ll Drive” to let cit-
izens indicate their suggestions via text or plotting pins on a
streetmap:
àà https://www.facebook.com/PolitieStichtseVecht/
posts/1028409320627567
Dutch Police collaborate with neighbourhoods and ask them
in a Twitter poll to mark places where drivers should be checked
for speed:
àà http://www.telstar-online.nl/nieuws/actueel/82865/politie-pakt-
samen-met-buurt-hardrijders-aan
Liverpool police start catching speeding drivers in areas that
citizens indicated in a Twitter poll:
àà http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/police-looking-
catch-speeding-drivers-12910986

109
Image Source: CC license by https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielthornton/8618932799
ORGANISE
VOLUNTEERING
Places and properties affected by the pub-
lic disorder caused by riots need cleaning,
recovery, and restoration.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to organ-
ise volunteers in to help clean help and to
make contributions to public safety.

110
UK Riots 2011: Campaign supported by over 60,000 people
with #RiotCleanup becoming one of the most popular hashtags
on Twitter during the days of the riots plus crowdfunding & char-
ity campaigns:
àà http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/
S0740624X14000847/pdfft?md5=2b47f21b4f212237972407b0d30703e
2&pid=1-s2.0-S0740624X14000847-main.pdf
Cleanup for the 2013 floods in Germany:
àà http://www.flurfunk-dresden.de/2013/06/22/hochwasser-2013-und-
die-sozialen-medien-was-bleibt
Project CleanX project (similar to London and Vancouver):
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/reconstructie-2-2
Vancouver CleanUp project after the riots:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/vancouver-riots

111
Image Source: CC License NYPD
RECRUITMENT
Public security organisations need to at-
tract young talent.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to reach
and attract young applicants.

112
Recruitment can be very effective with a comprehensive
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY and part of normal social com-
munications. German police forces report how communication,
not even related to recruitment, helps making people aware of
the police and recognize them as a modern organisation.
Even though the German police force was critized for this un-
usual rap video, it helped recruitment:
àà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Doswuy_xQ
a second version:
àà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htTVAXMQYoE
#Crimediggers: As part of a recruitment campaign to recruit
digital detectives, the Dutch police built an online challenge.
Through the “Crime Diggers” challenge, participants can get ac-
quainted with both digital and financial investigations:
àà https://www.crimediggers.nl
In Northern Ireland PSNI also actively advertise job vacancies
for all positions within PSNI on social media.
àà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpJS5RgnWBo
àà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rmkUoGTSPE

113
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WEBCARE
Given the influence that social media have
on public safety, it is important to take care
of the state of social media in terms of pub-
lic safety and to react on remarks and com-
plaints of citizens.
Therefore, LEAs set up a special team to
monitor social media to provide service to
citizens and influence the online space (and
sentiment).

114
Related Patterns:
■■ REFUTE RUMOURS
■■ REASSURANCE
The city of The Hague uses information posted about city
issues on social media to understand and resolve these issues.
They worked with people who had been involved in WEBCARE
at airline companies.
This is was has used in controversial ways, where LEAs, to-
gether with volunteer citizens, generate online narrative themes
related to a transnational protest in order to frame or silence
oppositional claims of protest activists and police collective ac-
tions.
■■ The 2010 Seoul G20 Summit: When Big Brother Uses Twit-
ter, Too: Productive Forms of Policing and the Role of Media
in the Seoul G20 Protests in South Korea Lee, K.,2015
àà http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cccr.12087/pdf

115
Image Source: CC license https://www.flickr.com/photos/foilman
REFUTE
RUMOURS
On social media, especially in crisis situa-
tions, rumors spread easily.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to refute
rumors, as they have a strong voice in so-
cial media that others refer to as a trusted
source.

116
During the UK Riots in 2011 a large part of the communication
has been to refute rumours.
■■ In: Sebastian Denef, Petra Saskia Bayerl, and Nico Kaptein
(2013): Social Media and the Police—Tweeting Practices of
British Police Forces during the August 2011 Riots. In Pro-
ceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (Paris, France, April 27–May 2, 2013).
CHI’13. New York, NY: ACM Press.
Boston Marathon: Looking for the wrong persons. See:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/category/cases/boston-bombings
and specifically:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/boston-bombings-burgeropsporing-en-
zelfcorrigerend-vermogen
Shooting Munich 2016: Police clarified several misleading and
wrong information about additional attacks.
A rumour annotation tool with tweets, developed for the Fer-
guson, Missouri, U.S. unrest in August 2014, enabling annota-
tors to read through the tweets and annotate them as being
rumours or norumours.
■■ In: Best practice referred in academic literature : ‘Zubia-
ga, A., Liakata, M., Procter, R., Bontcheva, K. & Tolmie, P.,
2015-Towards detecting rumors in social media’
Hoaxmap (Germany):
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/hoaxmap
Social Media Verification handbook
àà https://www.slideshare.net/socialmediadna/verification-handbook
FEMA rumour control center:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/hoax
The West Midlands Police Force use social media, primarily
Twitter, to counter rumours. They for instance tweeted officers
standing outside the station to fight a rumour of an attack on
their police station.
■■ In: Bartlett J., Miller C. (2013), @metpoliceuk How Twitter is
changing modern policing the case of the Woolwich After-
math. London: Demos.

117
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REPUTATION
MANAGEMENT
Trust and credibility are key to the work of
law enforcement agencies.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to influ-
ence and manage the reputation of their
organisation.

118
Reputation management is often done using HUMAN SIDE
STORIES and part of WEBCARE.
Young Ukrainian female police stirs social media:
àà http://europe.newsweek.com/young-kiev-police-recruits-cause-stir-
social-media-330060
Police in Iceland (and around the world) use cute and funny
moves on social media:
àà http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/icelands-police-have-one-worlds-
cutest-instagrams-160284
The Shake It Off Cop:
àà https://twitter.com/ShakeItOffCop
àà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XFBUM8dMqw
There are also cases, where reputation management does
not work as planned and brings up citizen criticism. “My NYPD”
campaign:
àà http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27126041

119
Image Source: CC0 freegreatpicture.com
REASSURANCE
In the event of crisis, people might worry
about the situation.
Therefore, LEAs use social media to com-
municate actions that have been taken to
restore public safety and respond to social
media sentiments.

120
UK Riots 2011: A large part of the communication was aimed at
providing reassurance.
■■ In: Sebastian Denef, Petra Saskia Bayerl, and Nico Kaptein
(2013): Social Media and the Police—Tweeting Practices of
British Police Forces during the August 2011 Riots. In Pro-
ceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (Paris, France, April 27–May 2, 2013).
CHI’13. New York, NY: ACM Press.
Munich Shooting 2016: The police used Twitter to clarify the
situation and reassure citizens:
àà https://twitter.com/polizeimuenchen

121
Image Source: CC license by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ter-burg/17315216959
CITIZENS ADOPT
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media provide various ways of em-
powering citizens.
Therefore, citizens use social media to ad-
dress issues of their concern.

122
Taking things into their own hands, citizens use social media
to address public security issues. The following pattern list de-
scribes a number of practices:
■■ ORGANISE PROTESTS
■■ DIY JUSTICE
■■ DIY CITIZEN JOURNALISM
■■ DIY ACCOUNTS
■■ DIY INTELLIGENCE
■■ DIY WATCH DOG
■■ DIY INVESTIGATION
■■ NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

123
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ORGANISE
PROTESTS
Citizens may oppose actions of govern-
ment or issues in society.
Therefore, citizens use social media to or-
ganise protests or mass gatherings.

124
Hashtags have become a simple yet effective tool in organising
protest groups.
Public Facebook pages allow “invitations to all” and thus have
a wide reach.
■■ Project X
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/analyse-2/
■■ Harlem Shake
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/harlem-shake-in-nederland
As governments sometimes try to control social media, Fire-
chat is used as a tool for ad-hoc local networks.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/firechat
The BlackLivesMatter movement uses social media to protest
against police violence:
àà https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter
During the Arabic Spring, social media was the core organiz-
ing tool:
àà https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring
In Brazil, “Rolezinho” is a form of protest where black youth
occupy malls`;
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/rolezinho
Following terrorist attacks in Paris, people organised the “Je
Suis Charlie” movement:
àà https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_suis_Charlie
The “Platforme Citoyen” is a group of citizens formed to help
with the inflow of refugees in Belgium. During 2015, they con-
ducted two large marches which were organised through their
Facebook groups.
During the Hong Kong protests, the protesting crowds used
Firechat, a peer-to-peer social media app to circumvent the gov-
ernmental surveillance:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/firechat
The Sukey app helps protesters to avoid police kettles:
àà http://www.wired.co.uk/article/sukey-protest-app

125
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DIY
JUSTICE
Citizens offended by other citizens, com-
panies or government activity and want to
correct the wrong.
Therefore, citizens respond through coordi-
nated retaliation on digital media, including
mobile devices and social media platforms.

126
Vigilantism can include citizens playing judge and “naming and
shaming” individuals, where users publish someone’s personal
details on a public site.
■■ Examples: Vancouver Riots, ‘Kopschoppers’ incident the
Netherlands Source: Research by Daniel Trottier
There are several groups of paedophile hunters.
Anonymous, the activist group, has conducted various online
actions (doxing, trolling).
Following shootings in the U.S., people began to publicly map
gun owners.
àà http://mediashift.org/2013/02/where-the-journal-news-went-wrong-in-
mapping-gun-owners053
In Italy, a group of students started to create “Mafiamaps” to
fight organised crime.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/mafiamaps
Other examples of online groups using social media:
■■ Anonymous deatheaters:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/anonymous-deatheaters
■■ Dark Justice:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/dark-justice
■■ The Punisher Squad:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/the-punisher-squad
■■ The Internet Interceptors:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/the-internet-interceptors
■■ The Creep Catchers:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/creep-catchers

127
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DIY CITIZEN
JOURNALISM
Social media allow each individual to broad-
cast and share a situation that otherwise
nobody would report about.
Therefore, citizens report news them-
selves, e.g. by using live streaming video
applications to create situational aware-
ness for other citizens and for other gov-
ernmental agencies.

128
Several real-time social media are used to report on crimes as
they unfold:
■■ Twitter has become a core medium for live reporting
Example of a knife wielding man in New York City:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/knifeman-new-york
■■ Citizens also report with life streaming apps: Cameraad /
NULive and real-time video platform Periscope and Vine
(Example during Boston Bombings)
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/periscope-impact-op-veiligheid
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/vine
■■ Reddit was been frequently used to report on unfolding in-
cidents:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/reddit
Additionally, blogs are used to report about public safety is-
sues.
To inform citizens report, they use apps that scan police radio
communication from around the world:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/app-police-scanners

129
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DIY
ACCOUNTS
Authorities can be slow in adopting social
media.
Therefore, citizens provide security-
relevant information to other citizens
delete themselves.

130
A number of forums allow citizens to help other citizens (sharing
prevention tips, missing persons, caring for victims, discussing
problems, etc.) via different forums, newsgroups, Facebook
groups, etc.
Others offer help for victims, such as the Dutch initiative:
àà https://www.slachtofferhulp.nl
Unofficial news of police and firefighters:
àà https://de.nepoli.eu
In the Netherlands, the P2000 network is used on various
social media channels for incident reports, based on the official
C2000 network for police, firemen and ambulance profession-
als:
àà http://www.p2000-online.net
Citizens also use smartphone apps to inform of different re-
al-time road incidents (e.g. Waze, Socialdrive). While these apps
can be used to share useful information in a very immediate
form, they also can create security breaches, according to
some LEAs, and therefore are considered controversial.
àà http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/DUI-Checkpoint-
Apps.htm
àà https://www.engadget.com/2015/01/26/police-see-waze-as-threat
àà https://www.duidefensematters.com/resources/blog/using-waze-to-
avoid-dui-checkpoints-you-probably-shouldn-t-here-s-why

131
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DIY
INTELLIGENCE
Open data allows citizens to make sense of
information for their own purposes.
Therefore, citizens collect and store data,
sometimes map it, and distribute and share
it to make it useful for a specific context.

132
Wikileaks collects data from leaks (e.g. Panama papers)
Bellingcat collects intelligence and provides reports (e.g.
Ukraine conflict vehicle tracking project)
àà https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2015/02/03/ukraine-conflict-
vehicle-tracking-launch
Politwoops shows deleted tweets from politicians and other
government leaders:
àà http://www.politwoops.eu
iAWACS is a software that automatically analyses signals from
social media:
àà https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/07/10/
how-artificial-intelligence-could-help-warn-us-of-another-dallas
Using CRIME MAPPING, mafia maps highlight crime areas:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/mafiamaps

133
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DIY
WATCH
DOG
Authorities can act outside the law.
Therefore, citizens use social media to
watch und publicly share LEAs actions.

134
There are several cases in which citizens act as a watchdog for
the police:
■■ Copwatchers
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/copwatchers
■■ HandsUp 4 Justice
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/hands-up-4-justice
■■ LegalEqualizer
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/legal-equalizer
■■ Five-O
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/five-o
■■ Ferguson
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/social-media-bemoeienis-in-ferguson

135
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DIY
INVESTIGATION
Authorities can be slow, limited, or unwill-
ing to make investigations.
Therefore, citizens use public sources to
investigate and put together the pieces of
information that is (publicly) available.

136
Apps, such as “Self Evident” support DIY investigations.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/self-evident-app
Bellingcat investigated the shooting down of flight Malaysian
Airlines MH17 in the Ukraine.
■■ See report:
àà https://www.bellingcat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/53rd-report-
public.pdf
Web sleuth networks work on identifying corpses (e.g. the
Doe Network).
àà http://www.doenetwork.org
Other work on searching the missing Malaysian Airlines air-
plane using a microtask platform for satellite images:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/digital-humanitarians-modern-sherlocks-
deel-2
Massive online and offline search of for the missing brothers
Ruben and Julian:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/category/cases/rubenjulian
A Netflix TV series, “Making a murderer”, investigated a mur-
der case that had been closed many years before and sparked a
public debat on the verdict.
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/amateur-speurder-in-making-a-murderer

137
Image Source: Twitter
NEIGHBOURHOOD
WATCH
Citizens might not feel safe or well-protect-
ed in their neighbourhood.
Therefore, citizens organise their own
neighbourhood watch, supported by social
media use, e.g. WhatsApp groups and spe-
cific apps.

138
In the Netherlands, neighbourhood watch groups use WhatsApp
to organise themselves.
In the U.S. and recently also in European Countries, Nextdoor
is a private social network for neighborhood watch.
àà https://nextdoor.com
Pokemon Go is also used for neighbourhood watch:
àà http://socialmediadna.nl/pokemon-go
and
àà https://twitter.com/FrankSmilda/status/763786561267924993

139
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CRIMINALS
ADOPT SOCIAL
MEDIA
Social media can be used for various crim-
inal activities.
Therefore, criminals use social media be-
fore, during, or after crimes.

140
People adopt social media for criminal activities in many ways:
■■ PLANNING
■■ ILLEGAL MARKET PLACE
■■ GANG RECRUITMENT
■■ FACEBOOK THUGGING
■■ STALKING
■■ IDENTITY THEFT & FRAUD
■■ THREATENING & RANSOM
■■ REVENGE PORN
■■ PROPAGANDA
■■ GROOMING

141
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CYBERBULLYING
AND MOBBING
In educational institutions, as well as at
workplaces, cases of tensions between
people are very common.
Therefore, offenders can attack the dignity
of the victim through intense forms of re-
curring insults, harassment, and abuse on
the social media.

142
Cybermobbing can take two forms – either attacks on digital
media become an exceeded form of physical insults, or the vic-
tims are attacked because of their own publications in social
media. The latter is based on the concept of digital narcissism,
according to which people gain recognition and self-confidence
through self-presentation in digital space.
Some cases of cyberbullying were fatal for victims and gar-
nered global attention:
■■ The Ryan Halligan Case:
àà http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org
■■ The Megan Meier Case:
àà https://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/megans-story.html
■■ The Amanda Todd Case:
àà https://nobullying.com/amanda-todd-story
As this problem is urgent in many countries, various associa-
tions initiate projects to prevent cyberbullying and mobbing and
protect users of all ages from aggressive behaviour and online
attacks:
àà http://endcyberbullying.net
àà http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/index2.html
àà http://reword.it

143
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ROMANCE
SCAM
People are more likely to help with money
those whom they trust. Dating platforms
and social media are frequently used with
this aim.
Therefore, criminals can use a victim’s
trust to make them transfer high amounts
of money to perpetrators.

144
Criminals set up special scenarios which require immediate ac-
tion with the aim to receive money from victims. Thus, offenders
can pretend to be seriously ill, apprehended or threatened.
The procedures are essentially similar to cybergrooming pro-
cesses with children.
Cases of romance scams have occurred all over the world:
àà https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/romance-scams
àà http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20170505/how-a-suburban-man-
fell-victim-to-online-romance-scam

145
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PLANNING
Social media offers information to plan a
crime, but also a platform to discuss the
planning of a crime.
Therefore, criminals use social media to
plan attacks and crimes.

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