80% of Officials Use Social Media to Solve Crimes

It’s not just prospective customers, partners or employers who are scanning social media glean information about you and your organization. The long arm of the law has joined the party as well, a new survey shows. So if you happen to have criminal intent, this might be a good time to lay low and forgo trolling for “Likes” on Facebook.

A survey of more than 1,200 law enforcement professionals at every level, including federal agencies, found that four out of five use various social media platforms to assist in investigations based in rural localities as well as major metropolitan areas. The survey was conducted by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, an information provider.

Agencies serving smaller populations and with 50 or fewer sworn personnel use social media more, and state agencies tend to use it less (71%) than local (82%) and federal (81%) agencies.

Identifying people and locations, discovering criminal activity and locations and gathering evidence are the top activities, while Facebook and YouTube are the most widely used platforms.

Two-thirds of law enforcement officials believe social media helps them solve crimes more quickly, the survey found. Search warrants obtained using social media to establish probable cause held up in court 87% of the time when challenged, the respondents reported. Close to half of them said they use social media at least weekly.

Most law enforcement use of social media is self-taught, the survey found. Only 10% of respondents said they learned how to use social media for investigations through formal training given at their agency. Lack of access and familiarity are the primary reasons for nonuse — 70% of respondents said they are either unable to access social media during the work hours or do not have enough background to use it.

“Investigation and analysis of social media content provides a huge opportunity in terms of crime prevention and offender apprehension,” said Samantha Gwinn, a LexisNexis government solutions consultant with 12 years of experience as a crime analyst with local and federal law enforcement agencies. “As law enforcement personnel continue to participate in formal training and gain an increased comfort level with the power and scope of social media, as well as its limitations, the value it provides will continue to rise.”