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The Use of Social Media in Intelligence and Its Impact on Police Work

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Policing in an Age of Reform

Part of the book series: Palgrave's Critical Policing Studies ((PCPS))

Abstract

Digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram are now among the main tools for personal and professional communications. This has created a new relationship between privacy and visibility, as a large amount of personal information has become publicly accessible. Social media is now an indispensable tool in police work, especially in surveillance and intelligence gathering and when conducting investigations (Fallik et al., International Journal of Police Science & Management, 146135572091194, 2020). This chapter presents a summary of studies that have dealt with the topic of how social media is used in criminal intelligence work, focusing on the impact of social media and the challenges and opportunities associated with it. We look in particular at studies that deal with cases where social media was used to produce criminal intelligence and discuss the implications of the use of SOCMINT (social media intelligence).

We have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Francis Fortin, Julie Delle Donne & Justine Knop

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  1. Francis Fortin
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  2. Julie Delle Donne
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  3. Justine Knop
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Correspondence to Francis Fortin .

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  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    James J. Nolan

  2. Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivière, Québec, QC, Canada

    Frank Crispino

  3. School of Justice Studies, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Timothy Parsons

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Fortin, F., Delle Donne, J., Knop, J. (2021). The Use of Social Media in Intelligence and Its Impact on Police Work. In: Nolan, J.J., Crispino, F., Parsons, T. (eds) Policing in an Age of Reform. Palgrave's Critical Policing Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56765-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56765-1_13

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