(Newswire.net — March 4, 2016) — Social media may be a way to keep up with friends and past classmates, but emergency officials can actually use social media to find criminals in what is called online investigation and social media intelligence.
With over 1,000 different social media sites available, content is constantly driven out. Facebook alone has more than 1.1 billion profiles that publish 350 million images and 190 million images every day—all pieces in the puzzle law enforcement and online investigation companies can use.
Information from social media pages like Twitter and Facebook can help law enforcement obtain suspect confessions and witness statements. Officers can also hide behind these social media practices and operate undercover, “friending” suspects. In fact, there are an estimated 83 million fake profiles on Facebook, however not all of them are undercover cops.
Online investigation and social media intelligence has helped many municipalities make arrests connected to robberies, gangs, murders and narcotic cases. A US Federal Judge ruled in 2012 once information is shared and posted on social media sites, that information is free to the public. According to a Lexis Nexis study done in November 2014, 73 percent of law enforcement professionals believe social media can help solve cases quicker when used as an investigatory tool, with Facebook and YouTube being the most commonly used social media channels.
Not only can law enforcement use social media to solve crimes, it can help them prevent or control terrorist attacks and mass-action demonstrations. NetWatch Global is an organization which uses social media to do just that.
“NetWatch identified and profiled the organizer, obtained details as to the nature of the planned protest and also determined that two protesters would be attending the AGM to ask a number of awkward questions. As such, these individuals were also identified and profiled,” NetWatch said in one of their case studies.
Furthermore, companies like this can use social media to help companies and individuals asses damage for insurance purposes. During the Tianjin explosions that killed 173 people and destroyed building, shattering glass and throwing debris for miles, NetWatch was able to help their client
“In collating and analyzing the information obtained NetWatch were able to give our clients the information they needed to assess the damage extremely quickly, and without the need to have boots on the ground in China,” says on their website.
However, online investigation and social media intelligence are not the only ways law enforcement uses social platforms. It is a way to connect with the community they operate in. In October of 2012, the Philadelphia Police Department made its 100th arrest with the information it posted to social media outlets. According to the same Lexis Nexis study in 2014, 34 percent of law enforcement agencies used social media to notify the public of an emergency or disaster.