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Co-funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union
FutureImpact&RecommendationsForEffective&AcceptableSocial
MediaUseDeliverable3.5
CENTERFORSECURITYSTUDIES/KEMEA
MEDI@4SECTheEmergingRoleofNewSocialMediainEnhancingPublicSecurityGrantAgreementno700281
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VersionControlSheet
Title FutureImpactReportandRecommendationsforeffectiveandacceptablesocialmediause
PreparedBy EmmanouilKermitsis
ApprovedBy JonCoaffee(UoW)
VersionNumber MEDIA4SEC-D3-5-D-DEC18-Challenges_Recommendations
Contact [email protected]
RevisionHistory:
Version Date SummaryofChanges Initials ChangesMarked
1 17/12/2018 SubmittedVersion
Contributors:
EmmanouilKermitsis,VassilikiMantzana,PanagiotisDoumas(KEMEA);MarijnRijken,ArnoutdeVries (TNO),RianneDekker(UU,Pilarde laTorre,MyassaDjebara(EFUS),WilmaRooney(PSNI),RubénFernández,JordiDiegoBellver(PLV),KlaudiaTani,ElodieReuge(EOS),ClemensStriebing(FhG),AnžeŽitnik,JolandaModic(XLAB),JonCoaffee,KatHadjimatheou,RobRowlands(UoW)
TheresearchleadingtotheseresultshasreceivedfundingfromtheEuropeanUnion’sHorizon2020ResearchandInnovationProgramme,underGrantAgreementno700281.
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ContentsExecutiveSummary..................................................................................................................................................i
1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 MEDI@4SEC............................................................................................................................................1
1.2 WorkPackage[WP3]..........................................................................................................................1
1.3 Task3.4......................................................................................................................................................2
1.4 Deliverable3.5.......................................................................................................................................2
2. Methodology......................................................................................................................................................3
2.1 ProjectOutputs/Deliverables......................................................................................................3
2.2 Questionnaires/Interviewsforpractitioners........................................................................4
3. CurrentMap:SocialMediauseandneeds.........................................................................................6
3.1 LawEnforcementAgencies-Project’sPracticePartners................................................6
3.1.1 UnitedKingdom:PSNI..............................................................................................................6
3.1.2 Greece:HellenicPolice(HP)...............................................................................................11
3.1.3 Greece:GeneralSecretariatforCivilProtection(GSCP):....................................15
3.1.4 Spain:ValenciaLocalPolice(PLV)-................................................................................16
3.2 Local/MunicipalPoliceAgencies...............................................................................................19
3.3 PublicSafetyandEmergencyServicePractitioners........................................................24
3.4 Summaryofsocialmediauseandneeds-QuantitativeEvaluation........................27
4. FutureRoadmap:Challenges,Threats,RisksandRecommendations.............................29
4.1 Challenges,ThreatsandRisks.....................................................................................................29
4.1.1 OrganizationalChallenges..................................................................................................29
4.1.2 Communication&PublicEngagement.........................................................................31
4.1.3 CommunityPolicing&CitizensAffairs–DIYPolicing.........................................32
4.1.4 Surveillance&Intelligence.................................................................................................33
4.1.5 Investigations&Enforcement..........................................................................................34
4.1.6 CyberCrime................................................................................................................................35
4.2 Recommendations.............................................................................................................................36
4.2.1 StrategyandPolicy.................................................................................................................36
4.2.2 HumanResourcesandOrganizationinfrastructure.............................................36
4.2.3 ITInfrastructureandResources......................................................................................37
4.2.4 CommunicationandCollaborationwiththePublic...............................................37
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4.2.5 CollaborationandInformationSharingforLEAs...................................................38
4.2.6 TrainingandEducation........................................................................................................38
4.2.7 LegalAffairsandLegislation..............................................................................................39
4.2.8 BudgetsandInvestments....................................................................................................39
5. Conclusions.....................................................................................................................................................41
6. References.......................................................................................................................................................42
Appendix1 Questionnaire:SocialMediaUtilizationbyPublicSecurityStakeholders.43
Appendix2 AnalysisofQuestionnaireResults..................................................................................53
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Executive Summary
Socialmediahavebecomeubiquitousinoursocietyandarenowpartofourdailylife.According to the business intelligence portal Statista, social networking is one of theleadingonlineactivitiesworldwide.In2020,itisestimatedthat2.95billionpeoplewillaccesssocialnetworksregularly,with thebulkof thisgrowthprojected tocome frommobiledevices1.Thisincreasinglywidespreadusehasimpactednotonlythewaypeoplerelatetoeachotherbutalsothewaytheycommunicateandexchangeinformationwithpublicinstitutionsandauthorities.
In response to this evolution, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and other securityprovidersseetheneedtoincludetheuseofthesenetworksintheirsecurityandsafetyactivities, either as an engagement/communication tool or as a source of information/intelligence. In the main, they create official social media accounts to keep citizensinformedandengaged. Furthermore, socialmediaenable securityproviders to collectnew types of data and to develop tools not only to communicate but also to gatherintelligence topredict, prevent and investigate crimes.TheseplatformsprovideothermeansofunderstandingthecomplexproblemsfacedbyLEAsandothersecurityactorsintheirdailysecurityactivities.
Apartfromtheopportunitiesofferedbytheseplatformsintermsofpublicsecurity,LEAsarealsoconcernedaboutthechangesthesocialmediabringtotheirorganizationsandthenewsecurityrisksthatthosetoolspose,suchasbullying,hatespeechortrolling,darkweb,darknetmarketsetc.Inaddition,traditionaltypesofcrimesuchasorganisedcrimecanbestrengthenedthroughonlinemedia–bothinthecyberandtherealspace–becauseoftheaccessibilityandeffectivenessoftheseplatforms.WhileLEAsstrivetomakeuseofthesetoolsintheirdailyactivitiesinordertomaintainsecurityandtranquillityinpublicspaces,theirchallengeforthefutureistofindwaystopreventandrespondtooffencescommitted in the cyberspace that threaten the security – real or perceived – of localcommunitieswhilepreservingindividuallibertiesandtherighttoprivacy.
The scope of this report is twofold: a) to draw the current map of public securitystakeholderscurrentandfuturesocialmediauseandneedsandb)toadvanceafutureroadmap raising the challenges, risks and threats and providing recommendations toovercomethese.
1https://www.statista.com/statistics/346167/facebook-global-dau/
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1. Introduction
1.1 MEDI@4SEC
MEDI@4SECfocusesuponenhancingunderstandingoftheopportunities,challengesandethicalconsiderationofsocialmediauseforpublicsecurity:thegood,thebadandtheugly. The good comprises using social media for problem solving, fighting crime,decreasing fear of crime and increasing the quality of life. The bad is the increase ofdigitizedcriminalityand terrorismwithnewphenomenaemerging throughtheuseofsocialmedia.Theuglycomprisesthegreyareaswheretrolling,cyberbullying,threats,orlive video-sharing of tactical security operations are phenomena to deal with duringincidents.Makinguseofthepossibilitiesthatsocialmediaoffer,includingsmart‘work-arounds’iskey,whilerespectingprivacy,legislation,andethics.Thischangingsituationraisesaseriesofchallengesandpossibilitiesforpublicsecurityplanners.MEDI@4SECwill explore this through a series of communication anddissemination activities thatengageextensivelywitharangeof end-users tobetterunderstandtheusageofsocialmediaforsecurityactivities.MEDI@4SECwillseekabetterunderstandingofhowsocialmedia can, and how social media cannot be used for public security purposes andhighlight ethical, legal and data-protection-related issues and implications. Activitiescentre around six relevant themes: DIY Policing; Everyday security; Riots and massgatherings:Thedarkweb;Trolling;andInnovativemarketsolutions.MEDI@4SECwillfeedinto,supportandinfluencechangesinpolicy-makingandpolicyimplementationinpublic security that can be used by end-users to improve their decision making. Bystructuring our understanding of the impact of social media on public securityapproaches in a user-friendly way MEDI@4SEC will provide an evidence-base androadmapforbetterpolicymakingincluding:bestpracticereports;acatalogueofsocialmedia technologies; recommendations for EU standards; future training options; and,ethicalawarenessraising.
1.2 Work Package [WP3]
Work Package (WP) 3 seeks to maximize communication activities for MEDI@4SECincludingarangeofawarenessraisinganddisseminationactivities.Thiswillhelpspreadthekeymessagesandfindingstoourkeytargetgroupsusingarangeofcommunicationchannels.FosteringandevolvingtheMEDI@4SECend-usercommunityisacoreelementof thisWP.All partners are involved inWP3drawingon their relevant expertise andutilizingtheirnetworkstoraiseawarenessandgrowtheMEDI@4SECCommunity.
WP3requiresthefollowinginputsfromotherWorkPackages:
• TheidentificationofappropriateendusersofresearchorganizationstoinviteintotheMEDI@4SECCommunity(T.1.3andD.1.2).
• Understanding of acceptance issueswhen using socialmedia for security activities(T.1.4andWP4).
• Understandingenduser-needs(T1.3,WP2).
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1.3 Task 3.4
Moving towards [email protected]: ‘ExploitationandKnowledgetransfer’aimstomaketheprojectmorepracticaltransferringtheknowledgeproduced throughout the project to the public security practitioners focusing on thefollowingobjectives:
Ensureclosecollaborationwithpublicsecuritystakeholdersdrawingtheircurrentmaptoidentifythecurrentandfutureeffectiveuseofsocialmedia,theirshortandlong-termneeds,challenges,opportunities,threatsandimpactsLEAsfacenoworarelikelytofaceinthefuturewithintheirorganizations.
• PracticaladaptationofSocialMediaUse inLEAs’organizationsandtheexploitationand utilization of project’s results beyond the project. Turn the project’s findingsinventory into a practical toolkit providing a future roadmap containingrecommendations and a training kit on how best public security stakeholders canutilizeortransformtheirorganizationalstructuresandresourcesandadopteffectivelythesocialmediauseintheirvarioussectorsandeverydayoperations.
• Sharetheoutcomesofthetaskamongpublicsecuritystakeholders,bringingtogetherexperience,expertiseandperspectivesacrossborders.
1.4 Deliverable 3.5
Deliverable D3.5, namely “Future impact and recommendations for effective andacceptable social media use” emerges from Task 3.4: Exploitation and Knowledgetransfer.
Itisanamalgamationofprojectoutputsandfeedbackreceivedfromvariouspractitionersinordertopresentthefutureroadmapforappropriateandproportionateadoptionofsocialmediaforpublicsecuritystakeholders.
D3.5 in T3.4 focuses on the Recommendations for public security stakeholders(planners/policymakers/LEAs)fortheireverydayoperations,gapsandneedsidentifiedare gaps and needs in the adaptation of socialmedia solutions by stakeholders. Thisclarification is to avoid any possible overlaps between this deliverable and thedeliverablesD2.9andD2.10intaskT2.5,whichrefertorecommendationsfordifferentpurposesi.e.toRecommendationsforfutureresearch(D2.9)andtoRecommendationsforthedevelopmentofEuropeanStandards(D2.10)),andtoD4.7thathighlightsoverarchingethicalandlegalissues.
Thisreportisdividedintofourmainchapters,whichdescribethemethodologyresultswerebasedon(Chapter2),analyzethecurrentuseandfuturesocialmedianeedswhichwereextractedbasedontheabovemethodology(Chapter3),providethefutureroadmapwith the challenges, threats and the recommendations to counter these (Chapter 4),followedattheendbytheconclusionandlessonslearnt(Chapter5).
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2. Methodology
To fulfill the task’s and deliverable’s requirements and objectives, the methodologyfollowedforthisreportisillustratedinthefollowingdiagrambasedontwomaininputsources:
• theprojectoutputsproducedand• the results from the interviews and questionnaires filled by public securitypractitioners,
Basedonthesetwosourcestwosetsofintermediaryreportswereproducedbyeachofthepartnersinvolved:
1. TheCurrentMapReport,whichrecordedtheSocialMediaUse,gaps,impactsandneedsofthepractitioners,derivedfromthequestionnaireresultsandinterviews
2. TheFutureRoadmapReport,whichrecordedtherecommendations,derivedfromboth the project outputs and the current map report throughquestionnaire/interviewsresults.
2.1 Project Outputs / Deliverables
ProjectoutputscreateduntilM28consistedof:
a) KnowledgecreatedfromthestateoftheartliteratureandbestpracticesreviewinWP1(T1.2,T1.3,T1.4,T1.5);and
b) Practices,includingstandards,technologiesandlegalandethicalissues,createdfromthecollaborationandthedialoguewithpublicsecuritystakeholdersviatheexpertsurveysandworkshopsinWP2(T2.2,T2.3,T2.4,T2.5)andWP4(T4.4)
Questionnaire/InterviewsfromPractitioners
CURRENTMAP:SocialMediaUse,Gaps,
Impacts&Needs
ProjectOutputs/Deliverables
FUTUREROADMAP:Recommendations
D2.5:FutureImpactReportand
Recommendationsforeffectiveandacceptable
PARTNERSINTERMEDIARYREPORTS TASK’sDELIVERABLE
INPUTSOURCES
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2.2 Questionnaires/Interviews for practitioners
Accordingtothetask’sdescriptionandobjectives,thetargetgroupoftheT3.4outcomesisthePublicSecurityStakeholders/Agencies(Planners,PolicyMakersandmainlyLawEnforcementAgencies).
The knowledge and practices produced throughout the project are not enough bythemselves toproviderecommendations to theseagencieswithout firstexploringandevaluating thecurrentsituationonhowthesocialmediaareusedtoday,whatarethecurrentgaps,restrictions,limitations,opportunitiesandtheshortandlongtermneedsofpractitionersintheireverydayoperations.
For the recording and evaluation of the current map, quantitative and qualitativeapproacheswereapplied:QuantitativeusingquestionnairesandQualitativecombiningquestionnaireswithface-to-faceinterviewswithsomeoftherespondents.
Forthispurposeasurveywithdetailedquestionnaireandinterviewswaspreparedandappliedtoasampleofthefollowing3audiences:
a) Law Enforcement Agencies, practice partners of the consortium (PSNI, PLV andHellenicPolicethroughKEMEA).ThesurveywascarriedoutinternallybyPSNI,PLVandKEMEA,partnersofMedi@4secproject.Questionnaireswerefirstsenttothestaffofvariousdivisionsfollowedbyface-to-faceinterviewsinordertofurtherdiscussandclarifywiththemtheanswersgivenandcollectadditionalcommentsandinformation.
b) Local/MunicipalPoliceAgencies.ThesurveywascarriedoutbyEuropeanForumforUrbanSecurity(EFUS),partnerofMedi@4secproject.
c) Thesampleofthequestionnairewas10Europeancities.Itwasfilledandsentinanelectronic formby cities from Italy, Spain,Netherlands andPortugal. Therewas aclearrepresentationofcitiesandagencieswithdifferentsizesandpopulationserved:(6)smallagencieswith1-24 full-timepersonnel;(2)mediumagencieswith10-49full-timepersonnel;and(2)largesizeagencieswith1000-500+full-timepersonnel.Additionally, there was a multi-sector representation in the sample, having apredominant participation of crime prevention office; communication and pressoffices; investigation and enforcement offices; emergency and crisis services; andmonitorandsurveillanceteams.
d) Otherpublicsafety/securityagenciesfromEUnetworkusingaquestionnaireinanelectronicdocument formsent, filledandreturnedviaemailbypractitioners fromEuropean Organization of Security networks that cover the public safety and theemergencyservices.
Finally,theagenciesvaryalsointhepopulation,theyserve.Inthesample,smallcitieswithapopulationof2.500-9.999citizenswereequallyrepresentedasthosewith5.000+.Despitethis,themediumsizecitiesbetween1.000-4.999and25.000-4.999weretheonesthatparticipatedthemost.
Additionally,notallthequestionnaireswerefullyrespondedbutalltheinformationgivenbytheagenciesthatansweredthequestionnairewasincludedintheanalysis.
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Thequestionnaireconsistedoftwoparts(SeeAppendix1):I. OrganizationalandAgencyDetailsII. SocialMediaCurrentandFutureUseandNeeds
a) SocialMediaPresence&Usageb) Strategy,Policy&Managementc) Tasks,Activities&Practicesd) Concerns,Constraints&Challengese) Technologyf) Training
Concluding,themajoraimofthissurveywastoidentifythecurrentsocialmediause,gapsand the short and long term needs of public security and safety stakeholders withdifferenttypesoftasksandactivitiesindifferentcountriesandregionswithdifferentsizeandpopulationstoserve.
Althoughthesamplewassmallthesurveycoveredallthefollowingtasksandactivitiesofthecorrespondingagencies:
• CommunicationandPublicEngagement• Cybercrime• CrimeInvestigations• MonitoringandSurveillance• CrimePrevention• DataIntelligence• EmergencyServices/CrisisManagement• InformationTechnology• Training
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3. Current Map: Social Media use and needs
Thischapterfocusesonhowsocialmediaareusedbythepublicsecuritypractitionerslookingatthedifferentsecuritytasks,namelycommunicationandengagement,criminalinvestigation, intelligence, community policing, emergency services and crisismanagement,asthesewereidentifiedinthedescriptiveframeworkforanalysisofsocialmediause(D1.4).
More specifically, the chapter analyzes the current social media use, gaps and needsdividedintothreereportsections:
• Section 3.1: A report for Law Enforcement Agencies based on the outcomes ofquestionnaires and interviews arranged with the 3 Medi@4sec practice partners(PSNI,HellenicPoliceandLocalValenciaPolice).
• Section 3.2: A summary report for other Local/Municipal Police based on thequestionnairesfilledbydifferentagenciesatcitylevel.
• Section3.3:AsummaryreportforotherPublicSecurityPractitionersfromvariousEUnetworks based on the questionnaires filled by different agenciesmainly from thesafetyandemergencyservicessector.
• Section 3.4: A report with the conclusion results of the overall survey from thequestionnairesfilledbyalltheabovepractitioners.
3.1 Law Enforcement Agencies - Project’s Practice Partners
3.1.1 United Kingdom: PSNI TheOrganizationThePoliceServiceofNorthernIreland(PSNI)istheLawEnforcementAgency(LEA)withresponsibilityforthedeliveryofpolicinginNorthernIreland.
PSNIheadquarters isbased inBelfast,Northern Ireland,with6730policeofficersand2090supportstaff.ThemainroleofthePSNIistohelpbuildasafe,confidentandpeacefulNorthernIreland.
The operational functions of the PSNI are delivered through 11 District PolicingCommands,CrimeOperationsbranchwhichdeliversonSpecialOperations,ReactiveandOrganized Crime, Serious Crime investigations and Intelligence management.Operational Support branch which has responsibility for Tactical Support, ArmedResponse,CloseProtectionandRoadsPolicingteams.Thesefunctionsaresupportedby,Corporate Communications, Corporate Governance, Discipline and Anti-Corruption,FinanceSupportServices,HumanResources,LegalServicesandLegacyandJustice.
The MEDI@4SEC questionnaire was applied to the following PSNI agencies(divisions/depts.).Sevenintotalquestionnaireswerefilledbytheheadoftheseagenciesincludingoneforthewholeorganization.Questionnaireswerefollowedbyinterviewsof
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around1,5hourlongeach,whichwerearrangedforfurtherdiscussiononthevariousS.Mtopicsrelatedtotheiragencies.
1) CorporateCommunications2) CommunityPolicing3) CyberCrimeUnit4) HeadofDistrictPolicing5) DataIntelligence6) EmergencyServices/CrisisManagement
CurrentSocialMediaUse
AccordingtoPSNI,citizensengagementisattheveryheartofhowPSNIdeliverpolicinginNorthernIreland,whetherthatisanofficeransweringcallsforserviceandrespondingtoreportsofcrimeorwhetherthatisengagementwiththecommunity,findingoutwhatissuesmattertothemandworkingtogethertofindsolutions.SocialMediaisatthecenterofthisandprovidespolicewithoneofthequickestandeasiestwaystoengagewithandlistentolocalcommunities,businesses,partnersingovernment,healthandcommunitygroups.
PSNI’sjourneywithsocialmediastartedin2009,withthecreationofaPSNICorporateFacebook(FB)andTwitteraccountandbeganwithavaguenotionofengagement.PSNIrecognizedthisforumasanewandpopularwayofcommunicatingwithcitizens.
There was recognition within PSNI Corporate Communications Department of thegrowingdemandfromtheservice forsocialmediaaccess.ThePSNIDigitalHubandaSocialMediaPolicywerecreatedin2012,withtheaimofprovidingacentralresourcethatcouldoversee thedevelopmentanduseofsocialmedia includingexploringotherdigitalplatformsthatPSNIcouldutilize.
By 2012 the vastmajority of local districts had their ownFB and Twitterpages. Theplatformswerelookedafterbylocalneighborhoodofficers,supportedbyDistrictMediaOfficersandtheDigitalHub.
Initially social media was used to push out information – appeals, events that policeattendedandcrimeprevention.Itsoonbecameclearthatthepublicwasusingitasmeanstotalkwithpoliceandofficersbeganrespondingtocommentsandprivatemessages.Thisworkedwellwheneverneighborhoodofficerswereabletodevotetimetosocialmedia.Whatdidbecomeapparentwasthatsomepeoplewerenaturallygiftedatspeakingtothepubliconsocialmediaandwerededicatedtomakingasuccessofsocialmedia.Theseofficersspentalotoftheirowntimeathome;monitoringsocialmediaandmakingsurethatthepublicwererespondedto.
Whiletherewasaconsiderablemoveinknowledgeandexperience,socialmediaaccountsremained largely the same–32Facebookpagesand22Twitteraccounts.Also,whiletherewastalking,listeningandeducatingthepublic,thequestionarisingwaswhatwastobedonewiththeinformation?
Inthebeginning,itwasverylittleotherthanansweringqueriesthatcamefromthepublicorprovidinginformationthattheyaskedfor.Thenitwasrealizedthatfeedbackfromthe
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publiccouldbeactuallyusedtodrivetheiroperationalactivity.Thepublicstartedbeingaskedwhat theywantedpolice to do orwhat theywanted them to focus on in theircommunity.Speedingandroadsafetyaresomeofthemostprominentissues.Theyusedtheinformationprovidedbythepublictotargetroadsafetyoperationsandreportedbackonsocialmedia.Localcommunitiesweredirectingpoliceactivityintheirownareas.
Thepublic’sfeedbackwasalsousedtodictatehowtheywoulduseandprogresssocialmedia,launchingasurveyacrossallpolicesocialmediasitesin2015.Thefeedbackwasoverwhelminglythatpeoplewantedlocalandrelevantinformationfromlocalpolice.
ItwascontinuedtoempowercitizensacrossNorthernIrelandwithdirectaccesstopoliceintheirlocalareasthroughsocialmedia.PSNIrunsocialmediaclinicsonaregularbasissothatpeoplecanfindoutwhattheywanttoknowaboutpoliceandcanaskforpolicesupporttotacklelocalissues.Theylistentothepublic’sconcerns,takeactionandupdatethemonwhattheyhavedone.Theyenablethepublictopassinformationtothemthroughprivatemessages.Intelligencegatheringonsocialmedianowformsaveryimportantpartofbuildingcriminal/suspectprofilesandalsoprovidesvitalinformationandevidenceinmany investigations. They show the public that they are human andapproachable toencouragethemtoworkwiththem.Theytellthepublichowtheirengagementishelpingthemtoinvestigateandprevent,detectanddetercrime.
Social Media is a major component of their communications strategy, this strategyempowerseachandeverypoliceofficerandstaffmembertohavetheopportunitytotalkto the communities they serve and tell their own story. SocialMedia is not the onlymethod of communication but is steadily growing and claiming its place as a directmessagingtoolforPSNI.Whensocialmediawasfirstintroduced,itwaslargelypopulatedandgovernedby theDigitalHub.However, it became clear relativelyquickly that thepublicweren’t too interested inwhatPSNIhad tosayonacorporate level, theywereinterestedinknowingaboutpolicingintheirownarea.Socialmediawasopeneduptolocalofficers.Theseofficersareouttalkingtopeopleeverysingleday,itwasrealizedfrontlineofficersandstaffarebestplacedtospeakaboutlocalissues,operationsandinitiatives–whatcouldpossiblygowrong?Andtobehonest,notmuchhas.AsPSNIclaims,yes,theyhavemademistakes and takena bit of backlash but they have learnt from them andmovedforward.
Thisworkedinalimitedfashion.Whatbecameapparentwasthatthereweresomepeoplewhohadanatural flaironsocialmedia,whoenjoyeddoing itandwhowerehappytospend time on it. This resulted in number of our social media pages becoming verypopularandactivebuttherewasadisparityindifferentareas.
PSNIwantedeveryresidentofNorthernIrelandtoenjoythesamelevelofengagement,nomatterwheretheylived.Sotheythoughttheywouldgivetheirsocialmediauserssomedirection.Theysentoutencouragingemailsandprovidedthemwithmonthlythemestodirecttheirposting.Theyalsotriedtohelpfilltheirpageswithcorporatecampaignsandmessaging.Thisdidnotwork!Monthlythemesofcriminaldamage,burglaryandsoondidnotwork.Theywereapplicableinsomeareasbutnotinothers.Whileonetownmight
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beexperiencinganissuewithburglary,thiswasnotthecaseinanother,soitwascausingconfusionandmessagingthatwasn’tapplicableandoutofcommoninterest.
Theirsocialmediausersdidnotlikecorporatemessaging!Theirviewwasthattheyknewtheirareabestandknewwhatmessagingwasbest.Whyputoutmessagingaboutcriminaldamagewhentheyhadn’thadanissuewithcriminaldamageinyears?Sotheconceptwas:Localmessagingforlocalpages.
In the beginning social media was very much seen as an add-on by local policecommanders,somethingnicetodobutwasn’toverlyimportant.Thismind-sethadtobechanged. Ithas takenanumberofyearsof influencing,sharing informationabout thesuccessofsocialmediaandpersuadingpeoplethatthisissomethingworthinvestingin.
There are now regular social media user meetings at a local level. The social mediacommunications strategy for each District/Dept. is set during these meetings. Localprioritiesdrive thecommunicationsstrategy.Thesemeetingsalsoprovide localsocialmediauserstheopportunitytoshareexperiencesandbestpractice.
Intruth,thecommunicationsstrategyisnotsodifferentfromwhentheystartedout.Ιtstillremains–engagewiththepublic.Thedifferenceisthatitisnowengagementwithpurpose. However, it has been noticed thatwhere a sustained presence and amix ofhumaninterestnotprovidedandcoldhardpolicingispresent,peopleturnoffandunlike.
Theyprovidethepublicanopportunitytogetaninsightintopolicing–tofindoutthatlittlebitofinformationthatmakesthemfeelinformed.Italsogivesthemtheopportunitytoplaytheirpartintacklingcrime.Theyaskpublicfortheirhelp,theythankthemforhelpingandtheytellthemhowtheirhelphasplayedapartintakingcriminalsoffthestreet.
Cleargoals,objectivesandmeasurementsmustbeidentifiedtotrackcitizenengagementinitiativesandproperstaffingandresourcesmustbeallocatedtotheinitiative.ThishasbeenthemostchallengingaspectforPSNIineffectivecitizenengagement.Inthecurrentclimateofgovernmentefficiencysavings,reducingpoliceofficernumbersandbudgets,these have amajor effect on the availability of resources, equipment, technology andtraining.
MovingtoanoutsourcedserviceprovidedbyanexternalcompanyhasplayedalargepartinhelpingPSNIovercomethischallenge.ThisservicehasprovidedPSNIwithanaudittool,enablingthemtotakecontrolofthenumberofsocialmediauserswithintheservice,identifytherightpeopleasuserstomaximizetheirsocialmediause.
Metricsarealsousedtomonitortheirnumberoffollowersandtheengagementoneachoftheirsocialmediasites.Theyprovidestatisticseveryweektotheirsocialmediauserstoshowthemhowtheirfollowinghasgrownandwhichpostsperformwell.Itkeepstheminformedandalsoencourageshealthycompetition.Byusingthesetools,ithelpsallocateresourcesandcantellcommandteamsiftheirusersareperformingwellandtheamountofengagementtheyarecreatingthroughsocialmedia.Theycanalsotrackcampaignsandshowtheirsuccessorhighlightweaknesses.
CurrentSMNeedsandExpectations
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• PSNI, in its journey, has found that successful resourcing and staffing is thekey toeffectivesocialmediause,itisidentifyingtherightambassadorsandprovidingthemopportunityandtimetosuccessfullyengageonsocialmedia.
• Itisequallyimportanttoprovidethesocialmediauserswithuptodateequipmentandtechnologytomaximizetheirimpactonsocialmedia.
• Trainingisanotherkeyelement,fromhowtoengagewiththepublic,totheuseofnewtechnologiesandequipment.PSNIhasfoundcoachingandmentoringaveryusefultoolinthisarea.
• Socialmediahastobeviewedasafullyresourcedpriorityengagementtoolandnotasanaddonor something that canbedone in addition to existing communication.Aconsistentconfidentcorporateapproachmustrealizethatsocialmediaprovidesacosteffective and relatively simple way of delivering visible policing. Effective citizenengagementmustbenurturedanddeveloped,withtherecognitionthatsocialmediaisthefuture.
• Investmentinsocialmediaisvitaltoenablethis.TheseneedsaswellastheexpectationsfromMedi@4secprojectareclassifiedinshortandlongterm:
ShortTermNeeds• Moreeducationatasenior levelwithregard to theuseofsocialmediaasacitizenengagementtool.
• Buildknowledgeandconfidenceparticularlyataseniorlevelontheuseofsocialmediaasanengagementforum.
• Moreknowledgeonwhattechnologiesarecurrentlyavailable.• Dedicatedbudgetforsocialmediaequipmentandtraining.• Focusedtrainingon:• Citizenengagement• Communicationsskills• Technologies• DataProtection/Privacy• Coaching&Mentoringscheme• Bestpracticesocialmediausewithintheorganization• BenchmarkwithotherLEA’sontheirsuccessesanddrawbacksonsocialmediaLongTermNeeds• IT development to overcome the current security systems/firewalls in place andaccessibleWIFI
• ResearchandDevelopmentonthedemographicsofothersocialmediaplatformsnotcurrentlybeingusedbyPSNI.
• BenchmarkwithotherUK&EuropeanLEA’son thepitfallsandsuccessesonsocialmedia
ShortTermExpectationsfromMedi@4sec• DevelopaEuropeanSocialMediausebestpracticemanual
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• DevelopaEuropeanSocialMediaengagementforumatbothsenioranduserlevel.• Provideapproved focused trainingmaterialontheuseofsocialmediainasecurityenvironment.
LongTermExpectationsfromMedi@4sec• ProvideanopportunityforLEA’stoBenchmarkwitheachotheronbestpractice.(shortterm)
• Develop a roadmapon thedevelopmentof newopportunities on theuseof socialmediaforLEA’sinthefuture(longterm)
PSNI’sjourneytosuccessfullyengagewithcitizensonsocialmediaiseverevolvingandtheycontinuetoembracethechallengesandcelebratethesuccessesthatcometheirway.
3.1.2 Greece: Hellenic Police(HP) TheOrganization
HellenicPolice (HP) is theLawEnforcementAgency (LEA)with responsibility for thedelivery of policing in Greece. It assumed its present structure in 1984 when theGendarmerie (Chorofylaki) and the Urban Police Forces (Astynomia Poleon) weremerged.
TheMEDI@4SECquestionnairewasappliedtothefollowingagencies(divisions/depts.)oftheHellenicPolice.Thequestionnaireswerefilledbypoliceofficersworkingintheseagenciesfollowedbyinterviewsofaround1,5hourlongeach,whichwerearrangedforfurtherdiscussiononthevariousS.Mtopicsrelatedtotheiragencies.
1) PressandPublicRelationsOffice2) CyberCrimeUnit3) InformationTechnologyDivision4) DataIntelligenceUnits5) OrganizedPropertyCrimesDept6) OrganizedCrimesSub-directorate7) Sub-directorateofAdministrativeSupport-Atticadistrictintelligencedept.
HP-CurrentSocialMediaUse
The socialmedia activities and content aremainly delivered centrally by the Press&PublicRelationsOffice,whichactsasthecentralSocialMediahuboftheorganizationforthewholeHellenicterritory.ThePressOffice,withastaffofaround30officers,has4officersdedicated fulltime inSocialMediaManagementanduse,alongwiththeothertraditionalcommunicationactivitiescarriedoutbytherestofthestaff.
Since2010,thePressOfficemanagesonecentralorganizationaccountonTwitterandYouTube and since 2016, the official Facebook page. There is an official SocialMediapolicypublishedintheorganization’swebsite,whichdefinestheoverallpolicyaswellthepolicyforeachsocialmediachannelseparately.
Traditionalcommunicationandpublicrelationsactivitiesarecarriedoutalsothrough14RegionalPressOfficeswhichcorrespondtothe14Regionsofthecountrysupportedby
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the central Press Office. It is only recently that 14 corresponding Facebook accountsopened for each of these agencies to be used at regional level, to establish a closercommunicationwithcitizensandlocalcommunities.
Informative,advisoryandalertingpostsforcitizensandsuccessstoriesofcriminalcasesare the twomaincategoriesof theeverydaycontentpublishedbyHP inSocialMedia.Citizensareverymuchengaged inparticipatingandprovidingtheiron-lineassistancewith videos and pictures published for cases they come across every day. Detailedparticipationindiscussionsandresponsestopubliccommentspublished,areavoidedbythePolice.Responsesareprovidedonlyinformofmessagerepliesmainlytoemailandprivate/directmessagessentbythecitizens.
As observed, there are many accounts/pages/groups established by teams of PoliceindividualsorevenusersthatcouldbeposingaspoliceofficerssupposedlyrepresentingHellenic Police Activities but are, in fact, unofficial, not certified by HP (e.g.https://bit.ly/2AYP2qr, https://bit.ly/2MgXANB, https://bit.ly/2hBQJB5 etc.). Manycitizens have becomemembers of these groups, having the impression that they areofficial.
Thispresencecouldmisleadcitizenstocommunicatewiththesegroupsinsteadoftheofficialpages.Althoughmanyattemptshavebeenmade,legalactionscouldnotbetakensofaragainstthesegroupstotaketheirsocialmediapresencedown.
ExcepttheCyberCrimeDivisionalltheotherdivisions,donothavetheirownpresenceinsocialmediabuttheyusetheorganization’spresence,managedbythecentraland/orregionalPress&PublicRelationsOffices.Whateverisneededtobepublishedbytheotherdivisionsinthesocialmedia,followsthewayviaPressOfficesdependingonthethemetobepublished.
Regardingthecomplaints,crimeandotherincidentsreportedbycitizens,traditionalcallsand messaging through phones are preferred as reporting methods, especially inemergency cases. The direct line no100 is themost popular and frequently used forreporting emergency cases in all prefectures of the country, whereas messagingapplications are available for deaf-mute citizens to send messages to the ImmediateActionservicesofHP.
OfficialcomplaintsfromcitizensinthelegalformofindictmentsagainstapersonoragroupofpersonsoragainstunknowncanbereportedatthelocalPoliceStations.Thesetypesofofficialreports,whichusuallytakethewaytocourts,arerecordedinthe“PoliceOnline”platform,whichisusedinternallybyallagenciesandisnotavailableforcitizens.
Reportingofcyberincidentscanalsobedoneusingeitherthedirectlineno11188orthededicatedportal.CyberCrimeDivision,reportingdirectlytotheChiefofHP,witharound100officers,4-5dealingfulltimewithsocialmedia,isoneofthemostvitalunitsintheorganization,particularlyinthelastfewyearsthatcybercrimeisanewhottopiconitspeak.
Cyber CrimeDivision is based inAthens,while the subdivision based in ThessalonikicoverstheNorthernGreekArea.Since2015theyhavetheirownsocialmediapresence
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with 1 account for each of the Twitter, YouTube and Instagram channels and 2-3accounts/pagesonFacebook,includingCyberAlertandCyberkid.Information,advices,alertsandsuccessstoriesarethemainpublishedcontentintheseplatforms,allrelatedonlytointernettopicsandcyberactivities.
CyberAlertandCyberkidhavealsotheirownwebsites,informingandadvisingcitizens,parentsandkids.Cyberkidisagamingplatformforkidstoplaygamesunderasafeandsecurecyberspaceenvironment.PartofCyberAlertisalsothe‘Feelsafe’application,aninformation portal concerning security issues related with e-commerce topics forbusinessentities,employeesandconsumers.
The Hellenic Police Cyber Crime Division has also created corresponding mobileapplicationswhichareavailableintheabovesitestodownloadforAndroid,AppleandWindowsOS.Ithasalsoanin-housedevelopedintranetagencywebsite,asacollaborationplatformforinternaluseandexchangeofinformationbetweenthecybercrimeagencies.
WithrespecttoSocialMediaData,divisionsthataremainlyinvolvedindatagatheringandanalysisarethefollowing:
a)PressOfficeandCyberCrimeunitforsocialmediametrics/measurementsandmonitoringpurposesb) Information Management & Analysis Division and its district agencies forinvestigationpurposesandc)CrimeInvestigationdepartments.
DataanalysisatthePressOfficeandtheCyberCrimeUnitiscarriedoutwiththeaidofsocialmanagement toolsand the tools thatsocialmediaplatformsprovide, to extractvariousperformancemetrics.
DataIntelligenceDirectorate,reportingalsodirectlytotheChiefofHP,isonemoreofthemost vital divisions of HP acting as the central intelligence hub for the organization,combatingallformsofcrime,butmainlySeriousandOrganizedCrimeandTerrorism.Itsroleistocollectallkindofdata,includingsocialmediadata,eithersentbyotherdivisionsorgatheredautonomouslyfromopenpublicsources,analyze,validateandevaluatethemin order to provide intelligence support and analysis of data to all Hellenic PoliceAgencies,aswellas tootherNationalSecurityAuthorities,LawEnforcementAgenciesandJudicialAuthorities.
Apartfromthecentraldirectoratethereare14districtIntelligenceDepartmentsinthe14regionsofthecountry.Although,aspreviouslymentioned,InformationManagement&AnalysisDivisionisthecompetentServicetogatherdata,amongothersources,fromsocialmedia,Organizedandothercrimeinvestigationdepartmentshavetheirownlocalintelligenceteams,managingtheirowndatacollectedeitherautonomouslyorexchanginginfowiththeDataIntelligenceDirectorateandCyberCrimeUnits.
HP-SocialMediagapsandneeds
Althoughthestrategyforsocialmediauseandmanagementiscentralized,thereisaneedof extending the communication through social media to other divisions of HellenicPolice.Divisionsrelatedtocrimeinvestigations,suchasorganizedhumanandpropertycrimes, are some of these agencies, that would welcome a direct interactivity and
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communicationwiththecitizens,exchangingspecificinformationregardingtheircases.Thescopeoftheirsocialmediauseis,apartfromtheiroperationalneeds.also,torecordtheintereststhatcitizenshaveonspecifictopicsthroughwhichmonitoringcouldhelpthem in their investigations. Regarding the current state, in several Hellenic Policedivisions,investigatorsusetheirpersonalorfakeaccountstoconducttheirinvestigationsandexchangedatawithotherdivisions,throughthecentralandregionalDataIntelligenceDepartments.
Onegapidentifiedintheinvestigationdivisionsisthattheymaintaintheirownlocaldatawithouthavingdirecton-lineaccesstothedatarepositoriesofDataIntelligenceunits.Theexchangeofinformation,whichincludeeithersendingrequestsorreceivinginfotoandfromtheDataIntelligenceUnits,iscarriedoutinaformofelectronicdocumentswithnoactualdigitaldatainterchange.Thishasasaresulttokeepduplicatedataindifferentdivisionswithdifferent local data repositories for their ownuse rather thanhaving ashared and common database to enter and access data to and from. The reason thisprocess is followed is due to different and high levels of security of these sensitiveinformation exchanges that exist among the divisions. The same concerns about datasharingandaccesswere identifiedbetweentheCyberCrimeDivisionand IntelligenceDivision.
Although Cyber CrimeUnit has its own socialmedia and internet presence, a formalwrittensocialmediapolicy,liketheonepublishedbythePress&PublicRelationsOfficeontheofficialHellenicPolicewebsite,hasnotyetbeenestablished.
AnothergapdeclaredbytheinvestigationdivisionsisthecurrentlimitationsofhumanresourcesavailabletodealfulltimewithSocialMedia,aswellasthelackofSocialMediapolicyfortheirdivisions.
Social media management and data analytics tools based currently on in-housedevelopments or on open source and/or other freeware platforms and tools, havelimitationsinfeaturesandonthenumberofuserlicenses.Theneedofusingpremiumandprofessionalversionsfromtheindustryhasbeenconsideredveryimportant,butthehighleveloflicensemonthlyfeesandthelimitedfinancialresourcesoftheorganization,are themain obstacles to proceedwith the deployment of new solutions. The needs,especiallyintheIntelligenceUnitsforsuchtoolstoemploy,handlingvastamountofdatafromdifferentsources,wereidentifiedasveryimportant.
AsignificantpointraisedduringtheinterviewsforthisissuewasthatEuropeanUnioncouldalsoprovidesuchtoolsthroughEUrelevantprojectsalreadydeveloped,aspartoftheirexploitationplansduringandbeyondtheendoftheseprojects.ForthetimebeingthesystemsandtoolsdevelopedwithinEUprojectsremainontheshelfandalthoughLawEnforcement agencies and various end-users offer their know-how throughout theirparticipationintheprojectsandduringthedevelopmentofthesetools,attheendtheydon’tgetanytangiblebenefittomakeuseofthesetoolsproduced.
Apart fromtheplatformsavailable forcybercrimecases,citizensdon’thaveanyotherdigitalon-linemeanstoreporttheirincidentsdirectlytothePoliceusinganapplicationandacommonsocialmediaorotherinternetbasedofficialPoliceplatformforcitizens.
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Evenforcybercases,citizensarenotawareoftheexistenceofthoseplatformsandevenif they are aware of them, therewill always be an issue for them to report incidentsnamely.Inmostofthecases,citizensavoidreportingsomethingofficially,duetotheir“fear”offurtherlegalinvolvementandotherimplications.
Also, legaladvicesneeded inmanyad-hocsocialmediausecases,arenotavailableontimebytheLegalAffairsdivision.Advicerequestshavetobesentofficiallyandwaitfortheirofficialwrittenreply,which,inmostcases,onlycomesmanydays,oftenaftertheneedhas elapsed. Legal affairsdon’t usuallydealwithsocialmedia cases.Knowledge,expertise,trainingandinvolvementinsocialmediarelatedtolegalandethicalissuesareneeded.
Trainingisanothermajorcriticaltopicmentionedbyallagencies,asamissingpartfortheproperandsafesocialmediaandtherelateddatauseintheorganization.Mostofthesocialmediaknowledgecomesfromself-trainingandpersonaluse.Thereissignificantneedof organized internal trainingsessions specially forpoliceofficers thatuse theirpersonalorfakeaccountstousethemcarefullyandsafelyfortheirorganizationpurposes.
Apartfromtheinternalweb-basedplatformusedbytheCyberCrimeUnit,thereisnoother national groupware or collaboration and training platform used. Instead,manypoliceofficialsusetheCEPOLe-net,butthisisabroaderatEuropeanandnotnationallevelplatform.Traditionaltrainingmethodswithmorehumaninteractivityarepreferredversus e-learningplatformswhich are good to have but as a complementary trainingmechanism.
Agap,whichwasalsoidentifiedinmostoftheabovecases,isthelanguageusedinthesocialmediapresence.DespiteGreeceisatouristiccountryandhasalsomanyresidentsorcrossingimmigrants,manyofthesocialmediaaccounts,pages,posts,tweetsetc.usedbythepublicsecurityorganizationsareonlyintheGreekLanguage.Bilingualpresenceisneeded to enable foreign citizens tounderstandand communicate appropriatelywithLEAsorothercitizens.
3.1.3 Greece: General Secretariat for Civil Protection (GSCP): TheOrganization&theCurrentSocialMediaUseandneeds
ThequestionnairewasalsofilledbythePressandPublicRelationsOfficeoftheGeneralSecretariatforCivilProtection(GSCP)ofGreece,whichissubdivisionoftheMinistryofthe Interior with 50 members of staff in total and with the mission to design, plan,organize and coordinate actions and operations, as well as manage the provision ofresourcesregardingriskassessment,prevention,preparedness,informationtothepublicand response to natural, technological or other disasters or emergencies. The actualemergency services are provided in the Greek territory at local level by the CivilProtectiondepartmentsestablished ineachMunicipality,accordingto thecentralplanandcoordinationofGSCP.
SocialmediaatGSCPismanagedbythe3membersofstaffofthePress&PublicRelationsoffice,whichreportsdirectlytotheSecretaryGeneralforCivilProtection.Theirfacebookpagewitharound15.000likesandfollowsandtheirtwitteraccountwitharound9.000
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followersbothincludepostsandtweetsmainlywithinformativecontenttothepublicinthe form of press releases, civil protection guidelines and advices, scheduled andorganizedevents,announcementsandalertsaboutemergencyincidentssuchassevereweatherphenomena,floods,forestfires,earthquakes, landslides,technologicalhazardsetc.Also,sharingandre-tweetingpostsandtweetsfromotherrelevantorganizationsisacommonpractice.ThecommunicationforsocialmediaaspectsbetweenGSCPandotheremergencyorganizationsandLEA’sisdonethroughtheircorrespondingPress&PublicRelationsoffices.
GeneralSecretariatforCivilProtection(GSCP),inthecontextofitsmission,organizesandsupervises also a Civil Protection Volunteerism System consisting of around 400VoluntaryOrganizations(VOs)andExpertVolunteers(EVs)invariousregionsofGreece,whicharekeptinaspecialVOregistryincludedinthehumanresourcesofcivilprotectionto be in charge of supporting disaster prevention, response and recovery actions.Althoughthenumberofthesevolunteerteamsislarge,onlyafewofthemhaveapresenceinsocialmediaandthecommunicationwithGSCPincludingsocialmediaisnotcarriedoutbythePress&Publicrelationsoffice,thecentralsocialmediahub,butbyaseparatedepartmentwith3membersstaffdedicatedtothevolunteerismandtraining.
Thegapandneedweidentifiedherewastojointhesocialmediaforcesandintegratethecommunicationhuman,technologyandotherresourcesofthesetwodivisionsintoone,aswellastoencourage,organize,promoteandtrainthesevolunteerorganizationsandteamstodeveloptheirsocialmediapresenceandcommunicationwiththepublicatlocalandnationallevel.
ThesamegaphasbeenidentifiedalsoforthesocialmediapresenceandcommunicationoftheCivilProtectionDepartmentsoftheMunicipalities.NomentionhasbeennoticedintheGSCP’swebandsocialmediapresenceforthisnetworkofcivilprotectiondistributeddivisionsatMunicipalitylevel.Socialmedianetworkingandcommunicationdevelopmentisneededforthiscivilprotectionnetworkofregionalservices,too.
3.1.4 Spain: Valencia Local Police (PLV)- TheOrganization
ValenciaLocalPoliceprovidepolicinginthecityofValencia,the3rdlargestcityinSpainwith a populationmore than 1,500,000 inhabitants. The duties of the Valencia LocalPolice(PLV)arewide,rangingfromsurveillanceandroadtrafficcontrol,tomaintainingcitizensecurityandsafety,administrativepolice,communitypolice,domesticviolence,mediationpolice,fightagainstcrime,managementofemergencies,environmentalpolice.Ithasover1600officersandisoneofthemostactivelyinnovativelocalpoliceforcesinSpainwithregardtonewtechnologies.
Thequestionnairesandinterviewswereappliedtothefollowingdepartments:
1) HeadshipDepartment2) CommunicationDepartmentand3) TrafficAccidentsInvestigationDepartment
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Having interviewed the above departments and taking into account the previousdeliverablesandtheworkshopsreportsrelatedtotheMEDI@4SECproject,PLVfoundsomekeyelementsthatprovidethemwithvaluableinformationconcerningtheimpactsgeneratedfromtheprojectandtheirsocialmediacurrentuse.Ithasalsocontributedtodiscoverneedsandexpectationswhichcouldbemetbytheprojectfindings.
CurrentSocialMediaUse
IthasbeennotedbyPLV’sHeadshipDepartmentandCommunicationDepartmentthattheir participation in MEDI@4SEC valued very positively, as their organization isinterestedandinvolvedintheimplementationofpublicpoliciesandlinesofactioninaninnovativevision.TheMEDI@4SECprojectisconsideredtopresentthelatestchallengesfacedbythesecurityforceswithregardtomanagingandadoptingsocialnetworks.TheirHeadship Department and Communication Department consider that thecommunication´spolicycanalwaysbeimproved,andthiskindoffindingoradviceisveryappreciatedsinceitallowsthemtohaveaknowledgeofthemostimmediaterealityinthisfieldandtoanticipatethechangesthatlieahead,whichisessential ifyouwanttohave a relevant role on social media. However, MEDI@4SEC project outcomes areconsidered as guidelines that not always can be implemented. For instance, theirorganizationpreferstomaintainmainaccountsinsteadofdecentralizingaccounts.
It isworthmentioning thatPLVsocialmediapresencehasadualpurpose:ontheonehand, it seeks to improveour citizens´security and cohabitation, especially throughapreventionview.Ontheotherhand,itenhancestheorganizationalimage,andthus,theengagementbetweenPLVandthecitizens.Nowadays,theircommunicationsprimarilyfocusongoodpublicrelations,butthankstotheMEDI@4SECreportswhereanecessityofenhancingthereductionorpreventionofcrimeshavebeenobserved.AsithasbeenstatedinMEDI@4SECreports,“goodpublicrelationsareapositiveside-effectoffairandeffectivepolicing,butshouldnotbecomeandanendinthemselvesforpolice”.
Besidesthis,havinggiventhequestionnairestodifferentdepartmentsinPLV,ithasbeendetectedthattheirTrafficAccidentsInvestigationDepartmentisnotcurrentlyinvolvedin their socialmedia strategy.There isno current linkbetween thePLV socialmediaaccounts staff and thisdepartment.Therefore, the surveyhas shownthat itwouldbeadvisableabettercoordinationbetweenthesetwodepartmentsspecifically,astherearecertain situations inwhichaquick spreadof information couldhelp themsolve somefeloniesrelatedwithtrafficissues,competenceswhichareentirelydevelopedbyLocalPolice.
Ontheotherhand,itwasfoundthatthisorganizationdoesnothaveasaprioritytheearlydetection of antisocial conducts and other uncivic behaviours through social mediamonitoring. The CommunicationDepartment prefers to enhance the engagement andcommunicationratherthanenforcingthelawthroughsocialmedia,asitwantstoavoidbeingperceivedasanover-controllingandintrusiveagent.Thetwo-waycommunicationsshouldbeimproved.Mostoftheengagementandcommunicationtaskslackanykindofinteractionbetweenthecitizensandourorganization.
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Concerningcriminalinvestigations,PLVasLocalPolicedoesnothaveanycommunicationactivity through social media, as these investigations mainly belong to other LEAs(National Police and Civil Guard), according to Spanish law. The only exception, aspreviouslymentioned,isrelatedtotrafficcrashesandroadsafetyfelonies,inwhichPLVhas thecompetence to investigateandpursue theperpetrator. Inanycase, there isacurrentlackofsocialmediauseregardinginvestigation.
CurrentSMNeedsandexpectations
Aspreviouslymentioned,MEDI@4SECproject outcomes are consideredas guidelinesthatnotalwaysmightbeimplemented.Namely,thisorganizationdoesnothaveinterestinshorttermofdecentralizingaccounts.Instead,theyprimarilywanttofocusonsomemainaccountsinoursocialmediapresence(Twitter,Facebook,InstagramandYouTube).However,incasethatPLVwantedtowidentheirdigitalpresence,bydecentralizingwithdifferentaccountsasintheNetherlandPolicecase,thisorganizationwouldpayattentiontothegivenrecommendationsbytheMEDI@4SECconsortiumandwouldproperlytrainthestaffinchargeofthesesocialmediaaccounts.
Throughtheseinterviews,andwiththecomplicityofourCommunicationDepartment,PLVhasdiscoveredthatthereisanecessityofimplementingsomesortofplatformthatprovidesinstantmultimediasharingamongpoliceofficersanddifferentdepartmentsofthisorganization.Thiswouldenormouslyfacilitatetheircommunications´laborsandanyincidentmonitoring,as itwouldbepossible toshare inreal-timeanyneededpieceofinformation.Thus,notonlywecouldquicklydisseminateanyinformationwhenrequired,butalsohavingaccesstomoremultimediasourcesfromthepoliceofficerswouldbringover this organization to the citizens. This department has indicated that there is anongoing project in which communication channels will be expanded, not giving anyfurtherdetails.
Concerning criminal investigations, PLV claimed that they should bear in mind thepossibilityofseekingcitizens´collaborationwhenrequiredincaseoftrafficcrashesandroadsafetyfelonies.AllTrafficAccidentsInvestigationmemberswhohavebeengiventhequestionnaire coincide on the short-term need of using S.M. for Investigations &EnforcementandforDataIntelligencegathering/analysis.Itseemsclearthatthiswouldfacilitate their labors. Concretely, posting surveillance video or images to solicitassistancefromthepublicisthemostimportantaspectconsideredbythisdepartment.There are some car crashes in which the perpetrator runs away, and witnesses´collaboration could be really useful. In this point, it should be taken into account therecommendationsthatMEDI@4SECmadeintheDIYPolicingreport,whereitadvicesthatLEAsmustprovideasafeandlawfulenvironmentforcitizens´collaboration,thatistosay,LEAsshouldnotputindangeranyinvolvedactor.
Regardingtheconcerns,constraintsandchallenges,mostofthequestionnaireshighlightthatpersonnelS.Mtrainingandskillsdevelopmentisashort-termnecessity,aswellaslegislationconstraints(dataprotection,privacyetc)andfinancialresourcesconstraints.Theuseofe-learningplatformsandtrainingtoolshavebeenhighlyratedforthispurpose.
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Besides this, the internal process re-engineering/restructuring has been considered achallengeaswell.
Finally, according to PLV, the MEDI@4SEC project findings constitute a valuableknowledgeregardingtheuseofsocialmediainordertoenhancepublicsecurity,whichcan support end users’ decisionmaking on thismatter. PLV especially appreciate therecommendations thatcome fromtheMEDI@4SECworkshopsas theyareconsideredreallycuttingedgepracticalfindings,whichnotonlyservetoofferrecommendationsbutalsotoraiseawarenessaboutaspectsthatcanbeimprovedwithinanorganization.Thesefindingsmustbeevaluatedtakingintoaccountthegoalsandpoliciesofeachorganizationand, in case they are implemented, doing it according to each organization’scharacteristicsandthelegalframeworkwithintheywork.
3.2 Local/Municipal Police Agencies
Organizations/AgenciesThe questionnaire, answered by 10 diverse European cities in 4 different EuropeancountriesisanexampleofhowtheuseofSocialMediaisbecomingincreasinglyrelevantforsecurityagenciesatlocal,regionalandurbanlevel.
Theparticipantorganizationswerethefollowing:
1. PoliziaMunicipaleUnioneBassaReggiana-Italy2. PoliziaMunicipaleCastelfrancoEmilia(ProvinceofModena)–Italy3. PoliciaLocaldeCastellon–Spain4. PoliciadeSegurancaPublicaLisbon–Portugal5. LocalPoliceCityofParma–Italy6. CityGovernmentRotterdam-Dept.ofPublicSafety-Netherlands7. RegioneEmilia-Romagna–Italy8. PoliziaLocaleCorpoIntercomunalediRiccione–Italy9. CâmaraMunicipaldeSetúbal–Portugal10. PoliziaMunicipaleUnioneRubiconeeMare–Italy
CurrentSocialMediaUse
In general terms, most of the agencies are using SM mainly for communication andengagement,whichposesseveralchallenges for themin termsof training,ofeffectiveresponsetopublicqueriesandinteractionwithdifferentcommunities.
SMPresenceandPlatforms
ThesurveyedcitieshavebeenusingSMinavariedtimeframe,someofthemsince2011andothersjustuntil2018,butmostofthem(80%)havetheirownSMpresencethatismanagedbytheirownteam,andtheother20%useorganization’spresence.Despitethefact that all agencies have SM activities, 60% of them do not count with full-timepersonnelworkingonthis.Theknowledgeandexperienceoftheagency’spersonnelwasgenerallydescribedasgoodoraverage,exceptforthe20%ofcitiesthatidentifiedtheirexperienceandknowledgeaslow.
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The preferences of the cities in terms of platform use and importance showed thatFacebook,TwitterandInstagramarethefavoriteSMplatformsofthecitiesinterviewed.SomeoftheSMplatformsconsideredoflevel0or1ofimportance(inarangefrom0-4)bythecitieswereBlogs,LinkedIn,Google+,Pinterest,Flick,SkypeandGamingplatforms.
InthenextparagraphstheoperatingenvironmentofagenciesusingSMwillbedescribedby the way agencies interact with technology and infrastructure; data exchange andinformationsharing;andpractices,activitiesandpriorities.
Technologyandinfrastructure
Intermsoftechnologyandinfrastructure,80%ofthecitiesstatedthattoolslikemobilecommunication and alert apps to interact with citizens have the highest level ofimportance for them.Monitoring and tracking toolswere also selectedby40%of thecitiesasveryimportanttools.Followingthese,40%ofthecitiesselecteddashboardsformanaging multiple S.M tools 2 , tools that automate management of SM platforms 3 ,informationportal for corporate use4and e-learning platformand training tools5in alevelof2-3ofimportance(inarangefrom0-4).Intermsofinfrastructure,only40%ofthecitiescountedwithin-housedevelopedtechnology,theother20%intendstohaveoneintheshortormiddle-termandthelast40%donotintendtodevelopit.The60%ofthecitiesdonotintendtohaveoutsourcingtechnologyservices,10%alreadyhaveandtheother10%isthinkingaboutdoingitinthelong-term6.
230%ofthecitiesdidnoansweredthequestionrelatedwithDashboardsformanagingmultipleS.Mtools.3 20% of the cities did not answer the question related with tools that automate management of SM platforms 4 20% of the cities did not answered the question related with tools that automate management of SM platforms. 5 20% of the cities did not answered the question related with tools for e-learning platform and training tools 6 20% of the cities did not answered the question related with Outsourcing Technology/Services.
UseofSMplatforms:
Facebook10cities.Twitter8cities.Instagram5cities.Youtube3cities.Google+1city
SM platformsimportance:Facebook7cities.Twitter6cities.Youtube3cities.Mobileapp3cities.Instagram2cities.Skype1city
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Dataexchangeandinformationsharing
Regardingdataexchangeandinformationsharing,theresultsofthequestionnairesshowthatmostoftheagenciesarecurrentlyworkingtogetherwithothersectorssuchasthepressoffice(70%)7andemergencyandcrisismanagement(50%)8.Additionally,someofthemarelookingforwardtocreatenewjoinupactivitiesintheshort-termwithofficeslike crime prevention (50%)9 , information technology (40%)10 and data intelligence(40%)11.Finally,the40%ofthecitiesexpressedtheydonothaveaneedtoworkwithofficeslikedataintelligence,cybercrimeunit12andtrainingacademy13.
Tasks,Activitiesandpractices
Intermsofactivitiesandpractices,thecitiesaremostlyusingtheirSMforthefollowingactivities:
Conversely, activities related to disruption and online radicalization/violentextremism/terroristcontentarenotconsideredasaneedorprioritybythe50%and60%ofthecitiesrespectively.
Needsandexpectations
Itisrelevanttohighlightthat6ofthe10citiesalreadyhaveaSMstrategyandtheonesthatdoesn´t,expressedtheneedtohaveone,whichdemonstratestherelevanceofthe
7 30% of the cities did not answered the question related with join up activities with press offices and communication. 8 20% of the cities did not answered the question related with join up activities with press offices and communication. 9 20% of the cities did not answered the question related with join up activities with crime prevention. 10 20% of the cities did not answered the question related with join up activities with information technology. 11 20% of the cities did not answered the question related with join up activities with data intelligence. 12 20% of the cities did not answered the question related with join up activities with cybercrime. 13 30% of the cities did not answered the question related with join up activities with training academy.
• 9 of the 10 cities are using their SM to cover communication and engagement.
• 6 of the 10 cities are using their SM for monitoring and surveillance purposes.
• 6 of the 10 cities are using their SM to cover risk management and emergencies.
• 5 of the 10 cities are using their SM to cover issues related to SM as fake news/ misinformation/ disinformation. 3 cities did not answer the question.
• 5 of the 10 cities are using their SM to cover issues related to SM as crowd Management/mass gathering incidents and events. 3 cities did not answer the question.
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topicandtheneedtosupportpublicsecurityagenciesintheseissues.Someoftheirshortandlong-termneedsareexposedinthenextgraphsandanalyzedafterthat.
Asthepreviousgraphevidence,citiesarepredominantlyusingSMforcommunicationpurposes. The 10 cities are covering activities related to community outreach, publicrelations and for informing and advising public on general security and safety topics(100%).Also,citieswhereissueslikelisteningandrespondingtopublicinformationand
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inquiries,anddisseminationoftheirownsuccessstoriesarenotbeingcoveredcurrently,haveexpressedtheneedtocoverthemintheshort-term.Mostcitiesdidnotexpressanimmediateneed-andinsomecasesevenaneed-tohavein-servicetraining.
On the contrary, the cities’ position regarding the need of SM to cover investigationactivitieswaswaymorevaried.Asthegraphdemonstrates,whilesomeofthecitiesarealreadyusingpracticeslikeundercoveractivitytomonitorandgatherinformationandtoreviewSMprofilesofsuspects,othersconsiderthereisnoneedtoaddresstheseissuesthrough SM. The cities that are not using SM for investigation activities like postingsurveillancevideos,expressedtheneedtodoitintheshort-termand/orlong-term.
Inthissense,itcanbesaidthatcitiesaremainlyusingSMforcommunicationactivitiesrather than for investigation objectives. The different opinions regarding the need ofimplementing SM for investigative activitiesdemonstrates that there is an interest ofdevelopingthesepracticesbutinamedium/long-term.
Intheshort-term,theirmainneedistogettrainingsintopicsrelatedtoimprovingSMuseand presence, educating citizens, engaging the community, SM basics, engagingcommunityandSMbasics.Workshopsande-learningarethetrainingsthattheagencieschooseastheonesthatfitthemthemost.ThesetrainingscouldbeusefultoreducethegapbetweenuseofSMonlyforcommunicationsgoals,andnotforotheractivitieslikecrimepreventionoraccountability.
ThemainconcernsabouttheuseofSMidentifiedbytheagenciesarerelatedwiththeorganization’s/agency’sreputation,itsimage,liabilityandtrust,aswellashowtoinform,advise,notifyandrespondtopublicqueries.TheyalsoidentifiedthetrainingandskillsdevelopmentofSMpersonnelandlegislationconstraints(dataprotectionandprivacy)as
INWHICHOFTHEFOLLOWINGTOPICSTRAININGNEEDSEXISTINYOURAGENCY?
LearningtheS.Mbasics EngagingthecommunityEstablishingS.Mpolicy/rules ToolsforconductinginvestigationsMonitoring&Trackingentities/activities ImprovingS.MuseandpresenceEducatingcitizens ProtectingagencyfromliabilityissuesDataprivacy&protection SharingInfowithintheorganizationoragency
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important concerns. In contrast, human resources (availability/recruitment), financialresources,technologyandinfrastructureconstrainsarenotveryimportantconcernsformostofthecities.Thisdemonstratesthatthereisaneedtostrengthenthecapacitiesoftheagenciestoinform,shareinformation,engagethepublicandsuccessfullyusetheirSMbeforeengaginginmorecomplexactivities.
Finally, some of the recommendations that the projectMEDI@4SEC could give to theagenciesarerelatedmostlytothetoolsandmethodologiesusedtoresearchandmeasuretheimpactthatSMusehasoncitizens.SincemostofthecitiesexpressedtherelevanceofusingSMforreassurance,improvementofrelations,trustandliability,differenttoolstomeasure the impact and the perception of citizens will be very useful for them.Furthermore, recommendations of how to increase a transversal approach in the SMpoliciesthatwillallowthemtoreachabettercoordinationamongagenciesandbetterresultswhenitcomestocommunication.
Otheragenciesweremorespecificintherecommendationstheywillbeexpecting.Oneofthemaskedforrecommendationsofhowtoplanacampaignandhowtostrengthenthedocumentary,photographicandvideoastoolsofcommunication.Others,willappreciaterecommendations regarding trolling, how to deal with hate speech in the SM andanonymitywithoutfallingintocensorshipaccusations.
TheyexpressedaneedinlearningtheSMbasicsandimprovingitsuseandpresenceandexpressed thatMedi@4sechas impacted theirworkbyhelping them tohave abettercomprehensionoftheSM,itscapabilitiesandpotential.
3.3 Public Safety and Emergency Service Practitioners
Organizations/Agencies
Thequestionnaire,wasansweredby8organizations,mostofthemlocalauthoritiesinthesectorsofpublicsecurity,safetyandemergencyservicescombiningdifferenttasksandactivities.
Theparticipantorganizationswerethefollowing:
1. FireDepartmentDortmund–Germany2. MunicipalityofIserlohn–Germany3. PolishPlatformforHomelandSecurity-Poland4. CivilProtection,Bochum–Germany5. JESIP–JointEmergencyServicesInterpretabilityPrinciples–UK6. CumbriaPolice–England7. FinnishSafetyandChemicalsAgency(Tukes)–Finland8. FinnishPolice-Finland
CurrentSocialMediaUse
First,ithastobeunderlinedthattheuseofSocialMediabythereplyingentitiesstartedin 2008 the earliest, both Police agencies being the precursors, while one of theMunicipalityAgenciesmadeitsfirststepsonSMin2018only.
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Intermsofsizeoftheagenciesbynumberoffull-timepersonnel,itgoesfrom1-9tomorethan500.Thenumber full-timepersonnelworkingonSocialMedianeverexceeds1-3whilethetimespentweeklyonthemaintenanceofthevariousSocialMediausedreallydependsontheentities,withoutanyconnectionwiththesizeoftheorganization.BothPolice agenciesdeclaredspendingbetween11 to41hourson that task, for theotherentities(Municipalities,LocalAuthorities,NGAandEmergenciesservicesProgramme),itgoesfrom1hourto10hours.
FacebookandTwitterarethemostcommonandimportantSocialMediaplatformsusedwithintheseorganizations,followedbyLinkedIn,Instagram,What’sAppandYouTube;Google+andvariousblog+arelesscommonlyused.OneofthePoliceAgencyalsocreateda Snapchat account to recruit Police Students.The success of their uses is measured by the number of likes, interactions andconnections.ThelevelofimportanceofthevariousSocialMediaApplications,toolsandservicesvaryfromanorganizationtoanother.Butitispossibletohighlightthatthemostimportantserviceforalloftheorganizations,excepttheNon-governmentalAssociation,is the ‘MobilecommunicationandAlertApps tointeractwithcitizens’underliningtheimportanceofapropercommunicationwiththecivilsociety.
Fourorganizations (bothPolice agencies, the officeofEmergencyof aMunicipality, aLocalAuthorities)dohaveaSocialMediaStrategyandPolicy.OneoftheMunicipalitiesdoesn’tknowabouttheexistenceofaStrategyandconfirmedthatthewrittenrulesarecurrentlyunderdevelopment.TheNGAdeclaresnoneedofhavingaSocialMediaPolicywhiletheEmergencyServicesinteroperabilityProgrammestatestheopposite.
The Social Media entities are only managed by a Public Info Officer for 3 of theOrganizations,byaPublicInfoOfficer,Chiefexecutiveandcrimepreventionofficerfor1ofthem,byaCivilianpersonnelfor1ofthem,byCommandStafffor1ofthemandbyallstafffor1ofthem;andtwoagenciesoutofeightneedtoseetheirSocialMediacontentapprovedbyacentralgroupbeforeposteditonline.
In terms of activities covered today, this reflects the type of organizations and thesubstanceoftheirwork.IfthetwoPoliceagenciescoveralmostalltheactivitieslisted,the same does not apply to the Emergency services. Interoperability Programme forexample,onlycoveringaspectsstrictlyrelatedtoitsdailyduties(suchastrainingsandadvicesofthepubliconsafetytopics)anddeclaringnoneedofexpandingitsactivities.
In termof interoperability someorganizations, such as theNGAandoneof theLocalAuthority, declarenoneedat allwhile others, such as theProgrammeand thePoliceagencies,considerallthelistedactivitiesprovidedinthequestionnaireascoveredtoday.
If all the challenges listed in the questionnaire seem to be, at least for one of theorganizations,ofimportance,twoofthemstandoutoftherest,rankingthehighestscoremostofthetime:
• ‘Organization’s/Agency’sReputation/Image/Liability/Trust’• ‘Informing/Advising/Notifying/Respondingtopublic’
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Theknowledgeandexperienceof theagencies’personnelgoes from ‘average’ to ‘verygood’. Some of the organizations, such as one the municipality and the EmergencyServicesInteroperabilityprogramme,didnotreceiveanytraining(internal,externalorself-training).Ifallthetypesoftrainingscouldbeused,e-learningandworkshopsseemtobethemostpopular.
NeedsandExpectations
Intermofgeneralactivities,ifnotalready‘coveredtoday’ordeclaredas‘noneed’,‘Crisismanagement and Emergencies’ is listed as the only ‘Long-term need’ for theorganizations.
Concerning the Communication activities, ‘Listening/participating to public info’,‘Respondingtopublicinquiries/reports’and‘Disseminatingagency’ssuccessstories’arethe needs declared on a Long-term basis by the Emergency Services InteroperabilityProgramme,theNGAandoneoftheMunicipality.
RegardingInvestigationactivities,onlyoneofthePoliceAgenciesdeclared‘Short-termneed’forthe4tasksdeveloped:
• Undercoveractivitytomonitororgatherinfo• Postingsurveillancevideoorimagestosolicitassistancefromthepublic• ReviewSMprofiles/Activitiesofsuspects• ReviewSMprofiles/activitiesofvictimsOne of the Local Authorities expressed the ‘Short-term need’ of ‘reviewing SMprofiles/Activitiesofsuspects’.
Intermof‘otheractivities/practices’,thetask‘Organizepublicvolunteering’istheonethat that has been declared as ‘Short-term need’ by 4 out 8 organizations (includingMunicipalities, Police, Local authority), then comes the ‘Crowd Management/massgatheringincidentsandevents’declaredasboth‘Short-TermandLong-Termneeds’by3organizations(Municipality,NGAandLocalauthority).
ConcerningtheInteroperabilityandInfoExchange,onlybothMunicipalitiesandoneofthe Local Authorities declared ‘Short-Term and Long-Term needs’ on the followingsectors:
• PressOffice/Communication• DataIntelligence• EmergencyServices/CrisisManagementRegardingtheexistingneedsintermoftrainingtopicsforthepersonnel,3ofthemarethemostrelevant:
• ‘LearningtheSocialMediaBasics’• ‘ImprovingSocialMediauseandpresence’• ‘Engagingthecommunity’
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3.4 Summary of social media use and needs - Quantitative Evaluation
After the statisticalanalysis of thedata filled in thequestionnairesby37practitionerorganizations,theoverallmainfindingsregardingthecurrentsocialmediauseandtheshortandlong-termneedsaresummarizedbelow.
DetailedanalysisofthesurveyresultsispresentedinAppendix1.
• ΤhemajorityofagenciesstartedusingS.Min2010while10%notstartedyet.• 51%ofagencieshavetheirownpresence,40%usetheirOrganization’sSMpresence• Facebook, Twitter and You Tube are the 3 top commonly used SM platformswithmostly1accountprofileandpage/groupperplatform.
• SMseemsnottobeafull-timejobforagencies’personnel.43%havenotanydedicatedpersonworkingonSMintheiragency,while33%have1-3dedicatedpeopletotheSMmanagementalthoughonly30%spendmorethan41hoursonaweekbasis.
• Themost preferable performancemetric for all agencies was theNo of members/friends/follows/connections.
• ItisthatmorethanhalfoftheparticipatingagencieshaveanexistingS.M.strategywithcleargoalsandactionplanandalmostthesamepercentagehasaclearS.M.policy,intermsofwrittenrules.Thereisstillthoughanother50%thatdon’thaveaS.Mpolicy.36%oftherespondentsrecognizetheexistenceofsuchrulesasverynecessarytohavefortheiragency.
• 60%oftheagencieshaveacentralizedsocialmediapresencemodel.4outof10haveS.Mpresence/useattheirregional/districtrepresentatives(Decentralized)andonly1/3ofthetotalrespondentsrecognizetheformerasashort-termneedoftheiragency.
• RegardingtheapprovalofSMcontentbyacentralgroup/personbeforeposted,theresponseswerealmosthalfandhalf.
• Communication&PublicEngagementisoneofthemostfrequentSMactivities(73%)followedequallybyMonitoring&SurveillanceandCrisisManagementandEmergencies(45.9%each).
• RegardingtheCommunicationactivities,thetop3ActivitiesthatarecurrentlycoveredareInforming/Advisingpublic(86.1%),Communityoutreach/PublicRelations(81.1%)andDisseminatingagency’ssuccessstories(64.9%).
• TheinvestigationactivitiescoveredtodayusingS.Marelessthan30%andneitherofthefourproposedonesareconsideredasnecessarytoadoptinshortandlong-term.
• The Fake news/ misinformation/ disinformation and the Crowd Management/massgathering incidents and events, are currently adopted by almost 35% of agencies,whereas4outof10respondentsdonotbelievethereisanyneedtoadoptanyoftherest monitoring tasks such as Online Patrol, Dark Web, Trolling and Onlineradicalization/extremism.
• Thehighestdegreeofinteroperabilityandinfoexchangebetweendifferentdivisionsis with the Press Office/Communication (78.4%) followed by the EmergencyServices/CrisisManagement(62.2%)andtheCrimePrevention(51.4%)
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• The Organization’s/ Agency’s Reputation/ Image/ Liability/ Trust and theInforming/Advising/Notifying/Responding to public have the highest level ofimportanceofagencies’currentandfutureconcerns.
• Alltheproposedapplications,toolsandservicesasmeansfortheagencies’tasksandoperationalneedsareofmediumtohighlevelsofimportance:MobileCommunicationandAlertAppshavebeenratedasthemostimportantones.
• RegardingthedevelopmentandimplementationofSMtechnology35%alreadyhaveit in-housedeveloped,while29%intends todo this ina short (20%)or long-term(8.57%).Morethanhalfoftherespondents(53.13%)donotintendtooutsourceittoanexternalfirm.
• 48%oftherespondentsratedtheknowledgeoftheirpersonneltobeonagoodlevel,while43%consideredthattheirpersonnelhavegoodlevelsofexperience.33%thoughhavestilllowtoaverageS.Mknowledgeandexperience.
• Self-trainingandinternaltrainingareequallythetwoformsoftrainingsofarreceivedbyagencies’personnel.
• E-learningwasconsideredas themostpreferable formof trainingthatwould fit tomostoftheagencies(73%)followedbyworkshopandclassroomformstobesimilarlyandhighlyselectedeitheraloneorinconjunctionwitheachother.
Regardingthelistedtrainingtopics,allofthemhavebeenselectedatleastfrom4outof10participantswiththemostselectedones:EngagingtheCommunityandImprovingS.Museandpresence.
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4. Future Roadmap: Challenges, Threats, Risks and Recommendations
Whilesocialmediacanbeusedinapositivewayprovidingmanyopportunities,thereareassociateddangersandchallengesthatmustberecognizedandaddressed.
In this chapter, we identify current and future challenges and threats and formulaterecommendationsforpublicsecurityorganizationsanddepartmentstocounterthese.
Public security actors can use social media in the following 5 key operationaldivisions/unitsdependingonwhetherallorsomeoftheseunitsarepresentornotintheirorganizationstructure.
1. Communication&Publicengagement2. CommunityPolicing&CitizensAffairs-DIYPolicing3. Surveillance&Intelligence4. Investigations&Enforcement5. CyberCrime
This chapter first lists the challenges, threats and risks that will have an impact onenforcementactorsandothersecurityproviders,foreachoftheaboveoperationalunitsordivisionsfollowedbytherecommendationswhichmostofthemapplytomorethanoneofthesedifferentchallengesintheseunits.
It’sworthmentioning that challenges and threats referring to one unitmight be alsocommontootherunits.
4.1 Challenges, Threats and Risks
Beforewemoveon to the issues foreachoperationalunit,wewill firststartwith theorganizationalchallengeswhicharecommontoalloperationaldivisionsatorganizationandstrategiclevel.
4.1.1 Organizational Challenges • SeniorManagementsupport:There isskepticismonthepartofsomeseniorofficersaboutthevalueofsocialmedia.Traditionalmindsetsaredifficulttochange,don’ttrust,are not convinced and feel uncertain to introduce the new unknown media andtechnology. In many policing areas social media use is still not seen as frontlinepolicing, many see policing as a ‘serious business’ and view social media as notcompatiblewiththisviewandmoreasarecreationalactivityintheirorganization.
• FormalPoliciesandProcesses:OneofthemainchallengesforLEAsusingsocialmediaintheireverydayworkistheadoptionofformalpoliciesandprocesseswithinagenciesthat enable a unified and consistent approach to the usage of modern technology.Thereisanumberofcaseswheresocialmediahavenotbeenyetembeddedinalltheorganization’sworkprocessesandwherevertheyhavebeenembeddedtheymightbeused inappropriatelyby lawenforcementpersonneldue to the lackofsocialmediapolicywithpre-establishedstandardsandrules.
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• KnowledgeandTraining:IngeneralLEAsdonothaveastrongunderstandingofsocialmedia technology. There is a lack of technical specialist knowledge, a very smallnumber of officers have this knowledge and are unable to keep upwith this fast-movingareaandalthoughthereisalackofknowledgeinmostoftheLEAsthereislittletononeS.Mtrainingtargetedtotheirpersonneleither.
• HumanResources,TechnologyandBudget.ManyLEAsandotherpublicsecurityactorsarenotpreparedtochange/modernizetheirinfrastructures(staffandtechnology)toadoptsocialmediaasatooltosolveandpreventcrimes.Atatimeofreducingbudgetsit is difficult to allocate officers and technology to this area. Finding and retainingspecialistofficersisdifficultasthecommercialworldhashighersalariestooffer,whichoftenluresthemostexperiencedandtalentedofficersawayfrompolicing.Evenifthebudgetwasavailabletechnologybecomesobsoletesoquicklyitisdifficulttokeepup.TechnologicaladvancesinsocialnetworksarefasterthantheabilityofLEAsandothersecurityproviders to integrate theseplatforms into theirdailysocial activities (e.g.LEAsstartusingcertainSMplatformswhentheyarealready“outoffashion”).PSNIsaid‘Ifwedon’tinvestinourtechnology,knowledgeandequipment,weareatriskofmissinganopportunitytogetaheadofcriminals’.
• From the side of industry players who develop new apps, solutions and services,developers and researchers need clear and concrete requirements from LEAs todevelop tools thatwill support their everydaywork. However, LEAs are unable toformulatespecificquestions(toavoidendangeringinvestigations)orsharetheirdata(thelawpreventsLEAsfromsharingdatafromcriminalcases).Asaconsequence,toolsare tailored by private companies and the technology is thus not designed for therequirementsofLEAs.
• Decentralized S.M presence:Most of the LEAs currently try to keep the presence,managementandtheadministrationofS.Mplatformscentralizedwithonlyoneortwomainaccounts,pages,groupsetc.atorganizational level.Onemainaccounthas theadvantage of concentrating all your socialmedia activities in one place reaching abiggeraudience,butitisharderforittobuildpresenceatvariousdivisionlevelsandhave close relationshipwith citizens at specific regions and for specific themes.Bycontrast, decentralized accounts can be used to send and receive more specificmessagesdedicatedtocertaindistributedtargetgroups.
• LegalAffairsandLegislation:AnotherimportantissueisthatLegalaffairsdivisioninmanypractitioners’organizationsdon’tgetinvolvedinthesocialmediauseortheycan’tcopewiththefastchangesandevolutions.Theyarenotfamiliarwiththesocialmedia technology and therefore can’t give their advice on the everyday ad-hocsituationstheyariseindifferentdivisionsregardingtheSocialmediaactivitiesoftheagencyorthewholeorganization.Thecommunicationtodayregardinginquiriesandanswers between various organizations divisions and the legal affairs division isusuallydone throughofficial document correspondence and it takes time.Thenewdataprotectionlegislationbroughtonalotofanxietyandconfusion.Eventhoughaspecific dataprotectiondirective exists forLEAs, the intersection, relationship,andimpactoftheGDPRinpracticeisunclear.Itisalsonotclearwhatispersonaldatainthe dark web or what part of the internet is public or private (public profiles on
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FacebookandTwitterarepublic,butthedatashouldnotbefreelyused-therearerulesfortheuseoftheirAPIs).Moreover,ascriminalsdonotcareaboutthelegislation,LEAsarealwaysonestepbehind.
4.1.2 Communication & Public Engagement Theuseofsocialmediacansupporteverydaypoliceworkbyenhancingopportunitiesforcommunicationwiththegeneralpublicandpublicengagementwithcitizens.Withinmostpoliceforces,thesetasksareorganizedwithinacentralcommunicationdivision.Inotherpoliceforces,localteamsandcommunitypolicingdivisionsareengagedwiththistask.
Alertsandwarnings,safetyinstructions,advices,andcrime informationare justa fewexamples of the ways in which LEAs use social media today for effectivecommunication/engagement. While social media has become a great tool to quicklyconnectanddirectlyinteractwiththepublic,thereareassociatedissuesanddangersthatmustberecognizedandaddressed.
Current and future challenges of using social media for communication and publicengagementinclude:
• Building/Sustaining Community: reaching people and keeping them interested andloyalinthecommunityisdifficultinsuchacrowdedandnoisyspace,whichevolvesatafastanduncontrollablepace.
• HumanResources&Timeavailability:Accordingtotheresearch,thenoofpersonnelworkingfulltimewithSMisverysmall,andthetimeavailabilityislimited,whereasthecommunicationinSMison24/7basis.
• Tools andEquipment:Notall officers are yet equippedwithsmartphonesor tabletcomputers.Intheseorganizations,thiswidensthegapbetweenthetechnologythatofficersuseprivatelyandthetoolsthatareavailabletothemintheirworkspace.Inthissituation,officers face thedilemma.Either theyworkeffectivelyusing theirprivatedevicesandpubliclyavailabletoolsforpurposesofinternalpolicecommunicationandviolatedataprotectionregulations,ortheysticktosometimes-clunkyofficialtoolsandservicesprovidedtothem.
• Multicultural&Multilingualenvironment:Internetandsocialmediaisaninternationalspacewithnoborders.Movementsandmixingsofpopulationshavecreatedlinguisticcommunicationissuestocounter.Themajorityoftechnologiesbasedontext,arebasedondictionariesforthemostwidelyspokenlanguages(e.g.,English,German,French).However, criminals speak indifferent languages, not just these, and the translationtoolsarenotreliableenough.
• InformationIntegrity/Credibility:Inaccurate, incompleteorfalseinformationcreatessignificantproblemsandposescriticalrisksinlawenforcement.Rumours&fakenewsare new forms of misinformation and disinformation which are continuouslyincreasing influencing the truth and the trust and significantly impacts policing,especiallywheninformationisrequiredfastandthereisnotalotoftimeavailableforverification.
• Mitigatehatespeech:Internetisaspacetargetedbyhatespeech.Thechallengeisthustotacklethismassiveandfacelessphenomenon.
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• FakeLEASMPresence:Insomecountriesunofficialpolicepresenceidentifiedinsocialmedia misleads citizens to develop membership and communication with wrongprofileaccounts,connections,pagesandgroups.
4.1.3 Community Policing & Citizens Affairs – DIY Policing Citizens’involvementinpolicing,throughsocialmedia,mayoccurinthreemainforms:
1. Citizensmayactentirelyontheirownandindependentlyofanypublicsecurityorganization to investigate crimes and punish suspects and offenders. (DIYPolicing),althoughthisformofpolicingisnotverymuchencouragedbyLEAs
2. Citizensmaycollaboratewithpublicsecurityorganizationsandactasinformationprovidersandexchangers(CollaborativeCommunityPolicing)
3. Citizensmaycombineaspectsofboth.
ThecurrentandfutureSocialMediachallengesofthesedifferentforms,wherecitizensarethemainactorsofpolicing,arelistedbelow:
• LackofCitizensKnowledge:Citizensareoftennotwelleducatedaboutthelegalsystemandapplicablelegislation.Inparticular,citizenslackknowledgeaboutresponsibilitiesandcompetencies:‘Whodoeswhatinacity?’‘Whenisthepoliceandwhenadifferentgovernmentagencymypointofcontact?’Ascitizensarenotprofessionally trained,theirinterventionsmayobstructthepoliceinvestigation,forexample,bydestroyingevidence,causingharmtothemselves,orincreasingtheirownriskassuspectsmayresorttotakerevenge.
• Citizens’NegativeInterference:InDIYPolicing,thereisafinelinebetweenassistingandhindering.DIYPolicingcaninterferewithpolicework,especiallywhenthereisalackof communication between citizens and local authorities through social media.ImproperDIYPolicingmay,therefore,leadtonegativeoutcomesintheinvestigationresultsandthusharmtheimageofpoliceauthorities.
• Citizens’exclusion:DIYPolicingcanexcludecertaingroupsinsociety.ConcernsabouttheinclusivenessofDIYPolicingandDIYPolicinginweakcommunitiesmaycreateanimbalance between citizens that engage in DIY Policing and those thatdo not. DIYPolicingcanleadtodiscrimination-drivenprosecutionandtargetselectionbasedonsocialprejudiceandthusnegativelyaffectminoritygroups.
• Citizenshesitation:CitizensareafraidtoparticipateinPolicesocialmedia,theythinktheymightbemonitored.Theyalsoavoidreportingnamelycrimeincidents,theyareafraidofgettinginvolvedandhavingpossibleimplications.IthasbeenobservedthatwhencitizenspostorsharethemesrelatedtoPoliceactivities,friendsandmembersdonotparticipateactively,theyareafraidtobestigmatized,unlesstheyarereallyfansofthePolice.
• Invalid, biased information:Many questions are posedwith regard to reliability ofinformation,leavingopenthequestionofhowtheinformationprovidedbycitizenscanbe validated. Citizensmaybebiased, andanonymity, fake identities, and the sheervolume of information may mislead an investigation. Misinformation and rumorscannotbemistakenforreliableproofandevidence.Citizenscanalsogetinvolvedininvestigationsofcasesinwhichtheyareasuspectordefendant.
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• TrustandImage:IncreasedbutunbalancedvisibilityofLEAsinthevirtualworldmaymake citizens feel manipulated or controlled. The incapacity of police or localgovernmentstorespondtocitizens’needsorexpectationsmayhaveanadverseeffectontheirtrustinsuchinstitutions.Coordinationproblemsbetweenlocalgovernmentsandpolicemayconfusecitizens.Alackoftrustinpolicecanfuelvigilante-styleDIYPolicinganddiscouragethepublicfromengagingwithnewplatformsadoptedbythepolice.DIYPolicingmayalsoincreasesuspicion,harmtrustrelations,andincreaseinlitigiousness among citizens. Personnel must also be aware that their actions arecontinuouslybeingdocumentedby thepublicat large and theymustbediligent inpresentingaprofessionalandpositiveimageatalltimes.Thereisalsoanotherissuewithpublicconfidence:peopleliketoseeofficersonthe‘beat’,notinofficesinteractingonsocialmediaanddealingwithcybercrime.
• InformationOverload:Ontheonehand,thenewdataprovidedbycitizens’activitiescan overburden LEAs. On the other hand, toomuch information provided by LEAsonlineunderminestheclearnessofcommunicationanddecreasespublicattentiononmoreimportantinformation.
• Privacy:TheinvolvementofcitizensinPolicingthroughS.Mraisesseriousconcernsregarding the protection of personal data and the right for informational self-determination.
• Digilantism and Self-justice: Citizens involvement in policing may encouragevigilantismandenticecitizenstoenforcelawsontheirown,pursuingsuspectswhomayormaynotbetheactualperpetrators.ItmayalsolendcredibilitytothecriticismofLEAsthatthepolicedon’tdoenoughtofightcrime.
• DigitalGap:Therearemembersofthecommunitiesthatarenotsocialmediausersandthus cannot takepart in socialmediaactivities sincenot all generations and socialgroupsaresocialmediausers.
4.1.4 Surveillance & Intelligence Public social media content can be used by public security organizations as an opensource of intelligence (OSINT/SOCMINT) which provides new opportunities forsurveillance.Thiscansupportcrimepreventionandinvestigationofcriminalactivities.GatheringdigitalintelligenceandanalysisisusuallythetaskofInformationManagementandAnalysis(DataIntelligence)departments.
Currentandfuturechallengesarisinghereinclude:
• BigData:Therearemajorchallengesinreal-timeuseofhugeamountofdatageneratedandgathered throughvarious socialmediaplatforms in very short timeofperiods(especially in events like riots, mass gatherings, incidents, emergencies), whileensuringintegrityandprivacy,whichislinkedtotheneedforinnovative,powerful,efficient, and scalable technological solutions (algorithms, techniques, tools andinfrastructure)tohandleandprocessthislargedatavolume.
• LocationofData&Tools:GiventhatmostpopularsocialmediaplatformshavebeendevelopedintheUS,themajorityofthedatauploadedorpublishedontheseplatformsisstoredonUSservers,regardlessofwheretheirusersarelocated.Duetothelackof
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internationalcooperation,thismakesmonitoring,surveillance,intelligencegathering,convictions,andlawenforcementingeneralsignificantlymoredifficult.Additionally,existingmonitoring,surveillance,andintelligencegatheringtoolscomefromtheUSandarenottransparentenough,whichmakesitdifficulttounderstandwhatdataisbeingprocessedandhow.Evidenceobtainedwiththesetoolsthereforecannotbeusedincourts.
• Security&PrivacyBalance:When it comes tomonitoring activities on socialmediaplatforms, gathering intelligence, and surveillance, one of the most importantquestions is how to balance security and privacy? How much of the availableinformation can/should LEAs actually gather and use for policing? How much ofcitizens’privacycan/shouldbeinvadedforthesakeofgreatersecurity?Socialmediausemustcomplywithalegalframeworkinordertopreventthreatstousers’privacyandtopreventorprotectthemfromunwantedexposure.
• DecisionMaking:Althoughautomatedtoolsareusedfordataintelligencemostofthedecisionmakingisstilldonebyhumans,notbyautomatedprocesses.Thisisbecausethesoftwareisexpensive,andtheprocessofdeterminingwhatinformationisusefuliscomplicated.Additionally,asformonitoring,alsofordecisionmaking,thetoolsarenotbeing fully trusted. Furthermore, evendata isnot fully trusted as it canbebiasormanipulated.
4.1.5 Investigations & Enforcement Targetedinvestigationofsocialmediadatacanbeusedincriminalinvestigation.Also,publicsecurityactorscancrowdsourceforinformationonsocialmediathoughgeneralsocial media platforms or designated apps. Here social media use pertains criminalinvestigationdivisions.
Socialmediauseincriminalinvestigationcreatesseveralchallengesforpublicsecurityorganizations:
• Lackof judicialknowledge:Poorunderstandingof technologiesamongst judgesandprosecutors canmean that thepolice areprevented fromaccessing, gathering, andusingvaluabledigitalevidenceforcriminalinvestigations.
• Consent:Whethermonitoringofsuspects’andvictims’socialmediaprofilesorothersocialmediadata,requirespriorconsent,whichisnotgiventothosetheyextracttheinformationforinvestigationpurposesbuttothesocialmediaplatformstheyprovidetheirinformation.
• Data Volume: Public security organizations have to deal with large volumes ofinformationinresponsetocrowdsourcingrequests.
• Fake Content for evidence: Apart from the misinformation and disinformationphenomena,newartificialintelligenceandmachinelearningtechnologieshavebeendeveloped recently producing fake audiovisual content such as the new emergingphenomenonoftheproductionof‘deepfakevideos’whichwillbringagreatissueinthefuturethistypeofcontentnottobeacceptableasevidencebytheinvestigatorsandthecourts.
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4.1.6 Cyber Crime Apart from other challenges alreadymentioned above in the other units, somemorespecificcurrentandfuturechallengesarisinghereinclude:
• CyberSkills:Cybercrimeunitsfacethehugechallengeofdevelopingandconstantlyupdating their knowledge on new activities, tools and technologies. The lack andinternationallyinhomogeneousdistributionofskillsoflawenforcementprofessionals,especiallywithrespecttohightechknowledge(examplesarethelackofexpertiseonransomwareandcyberattackswhendealingwithcybercrime,orthelackofskillsinanalyzing large amount of data, when dealing with drugs trade). LEA agencies inparticulardonotsucceedinthemarketcompetitiontoemploytechnicalexpertsoftenbecausetheycannotcompeteintermofsalaries,thismeaningthatagenciesbecomeincreasinglydependentonprivatecompanieswhoseservicestheyhavetopaydearlyfor.
• Thedigitalandcyberliteracyofcriminalsontheotherhand,incontrastwiththatofthe average prosecutor, lawyer or judge onmatters such as of dark web, darknetmarkets,cryptocurrenciesetc.isfarahead;criminalsareoftensophisticatedusersorevendevelopersofhightech,henceoftenwalk‘astepahead’oftheirprosecutors.Inthiscontext,tracing/loggingeverydigitalstepofacriminaltobuildacasewithstrongenough confidence becomes even more challenging; seasoned criminals areexperiencedinevadingdetection(forexample,bycontinuouslychangingtheironlineidentity,theirphysicalserver,theirIPaddresses),whiletheirprosecutorsmightlackexpertiseorresourcestodealwiththebottleneckofhugamountof(noisy)data
• Webanonymity&Encryption:Darkwebisthelowestlayerofinternetnotaccessiblethroughstandardsearchenginesandwheredata isnot indexedbyclassicalsearchengines. Here, the content is intentionally concealed, neither easily accessible norfindable,andusersareanonymous.Thisanonymousnatureofdarkmarketcrimes,makesveryhardtoidentifyandseizecriminals
• Thesecharacteristicsofthedarkweb,andthefactthatthedarkwebisrapidlychangingand growing, pose great technical challenges in the context ofmonitoring criminalactivities andgathering intelligence. Similar issue ariseswith the fact that youngergenerations mostly use technologies and platforms (Snapchat, closed WhatsAppgroups) that are closed and/or end-to-end encrypted, hence technicallydifficult tomonitor.
• Legislation:isanotherchallengingarea.Ascriminalsbecomemoresophisticatedinthecyberworld,legislationislaggingbehind.Thereisalackofawarenessinsomeareasfromofficersastowhatthecurrentlawsareandhowtheycanbeapplied.Crossingworldbordersviathewebuse,createsthebiggestchallengeofallintermsofgainingauthority indifferent legislationsandthe time involved,with the lackof legislationspanningdifferentborders,opportunitiesarebeingmissedtoprosecutecriminals.Theinternational nature of all type of crimes facilitated for example by theDarkWeb,exceedtheauthority,legalandculturalframeworksofanysinglestate.Inthiscontext,a big limitation is the lackof a consistent andhomogenous legal frameworkat theinternational level; differences between state pose bureaucratic and cultural slow-
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downstoacooperativeapproach;inthiscontext,seizuresofcryptocurrencycapitalsbecomeaproblem.
• National and EU support: The lack of resources and funding to have surveillanceoperationsoncyberspaceandespeciallyondarkmarketsisinplace.Inthiscontext,nationalprioritiesdiverge,soit’sdifficulttogetbuy-intoanEU-widefundoranEU-set requirement to cooperatively focus investmentson thedarkweb; for countrieswherecrimeonthedarkwebisnotcurrentlyamajornationalconcern,itisnowhardtogetpoliticalsupportformorefundinginthisarea;whendarkmarkets’crimewillbecomeaconcern,itwillbeinvaluabletotapintoexpertisefromcountriesthatareaheadofthegame.
4.2 Recommendations
Considering the above current and future challenges of Social Media in Policing, thefollowing main critically important topics for policy recommendations have beenidentifiedforLEAs,mostofthembeingcommonformanyoperationaldivisions.
4.2.1 Strategy and Policy ItisveryimportantforapublicsecurityorganizationtohaveaSocialMediastrategytoensuretheuniformuseofsocialmediabyauthoritiesinapositive,friendly,instructiveandhelpfultonetopromotecitizenengagement,collaborationandtrustandthesafeS.MusefrombothLEAsandcitizens.Goalsandobjectivesaswellastargetaudiencesshouldbe clearly and carefully defined in the strategy, so that social media platforms andresourcescanthenbechosenandusedaccordingly.
Oneverypositiveobservationmadefromthecontactwiththevariousdivisionsduringtheinterviews,isthatallthesignificantPolicedivisionsrelatedtosocialmediause,likePress Office/Communication, Cyber Crime Units, Data Intelligence, InformationTechnologyintheorganizations’hierarchy,reportdirectlytotheChief,whichmeansthatareveryclosetotheorganizations’strategy.
All LEAunits shoulddevelop closer relationswith the online community to allow forcooperation.Ofcourse,theseinteractionsneedtobebasedonrules,e.g.whencitizenscanengageandwhatthelimitsareforsuchcitizeninvolvement.Theserulesshouldbeembeddedinacomprehensivesocialmediastrategy.
Social Media Policy, not present currently in most of the organizations, needs to bedevelopedandappliednotonly for theS.Museregarding theexternalcommunicationwiththepublic,butalsointheinternalusewithinandbetweenthevariousdivisions.IfasocialmediapolicyisestablishedforallunitswithspecificstandardsandclearwrittenrulesofS.Muse,thiswillalsohelpthesocialmediatobeexpandedfromacentralizedtoadistributedanddecentralizedmodel.
4.2.2 Human Resources and Organization infrastructure As the internet never sleeps, LEAs – especially Communication and Citizen Affairs&CommunityPolicingDivisions–needthehumanresourcesandtheorganizationstructure
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to respond to and interactwith the public via socialmediawith an online24/7/365availability. For this reason, specific trainedpersonnelshouldbe assigned in full timemode,tosocialmediarelatedtaskswithpossiblydifferentworkingshiftsespeciallyfordivisionsliketheonesmentionedabovewithdemandingneeds.
Reorganizationandpossiblysomere-engineeringofexistingorganizationalstructureandproceduresmayalsobeneededinorderthesocialmediaactivitiestobeembeddedinthecurrent work processes. Information Technology, Procurement, Training and LegalAffairsteamsordivisionsaccordingto thesizeofeachorganizationare the fourmostimportant support aspects, whichmust be in place within the organization structurediagram.Ageneralmanagingdivisioncanguideallthisimplementationprocess.
4.2.3 IT Infrastructure and Resources AmodernandrobustITinfrastructurewithrelevantappsandplatformsshouldfacilitatetriageof largevolumesof information toease theworkloadandmake thedemandingstorageanddataprocessing feasible.Datacoming fromthe field throughsocialmediaplatformsduetoitslargevolume,unstructuredform,andambiguousqualityneedstobeevaluatedandinterpretedcorrectly–mostoften,inreal-time.Tothisend,thedatamustfirst be collected, filtered and put through an analysis process using high availabilitysystemswithbigprocessingpowerandappropriate toolsandmethodsthatcanrangefromtechnologicalsolutionsandanalyticstoexperiencebaseddecisionmakingsystems.Professional, robustandreliable intelligencesoftware tools fromwell-known industrycompanies despite their high price licenses, are recommended to go through aprocurementprocessratherthanusingopensourcesoftwaretoolsavailablefreeinthenet.
Information technology teams shouldalsoworkon the technological infrastructure toprovide andenhance interoperabilityand collaborationsharing informationand toolsamongdifferentdivisionsaswellasamongdifferentorganizations.
4.2.4 Communication and Collaboration with the Public Increasing the frequency and intensity of police-citizen interactions needs to beaccompaniedbysufficientresourcesandprocedurestohandletheincreasedinformationvolume.Inthemediumterm,LEAswillhavetodevelopandimplementaplatformtooffertheirservicesandinteractwithcitizens.Beinganauthenticpartofthewebcommunityalso includes developing a different channel through social media for citizens tocontribute to the platform. Such a police platform is required to meet the higheststandards of data security and communication quality (e.g., in terms of data security,empathyandeffectiveness).Thisplatformshouldinclude,forbothLEAsandcitizens,aconvenientmediumthroughamobileapp.
OntheLEA’send,acommitteeofrepresentativesfromthepolicedepartmentandinsomecasescitygovernmentcouldcontrolandmanagetheplatforminaccordancewithspecificprotocols to manage intervention, information sharing, and the distribution ofcompetencies and responsibilities. On the citizens’ end, such a platform needs clearguidelines,termsandconditionsforitsuse,andtheend-userapplications.Toavoid“firstcome, first serve-justice”, a transparent processneeds to be defined to prioritize and
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evaluatetheincominginformationinordertoprioritizethecorrespondingactionsandresponses. Quick and efficient data management and analysis as well as tools formonitoringandensuringinformationaccuracyandcredibilityareallnecessarytobepartofthisplatform.
4.2.5 Collaboration and Information Sharing for LEAs Greatercollaborationandsharingofdata,knowledge,expertise,andtoolsiscrucial.
Astheuseofsocialmediabypoliceofficersstillappearstobeunchartedterritory,LEAsshoulddeveloponlinecommunitiesforcommunication,collaboration,andinformationsharingbetweentheirdepartments/divisionsandbetweendifferentLEAs.
Commondataintelligencerepositoriesarerecommendedtobesharableandaccessiblebyvariousdivisionswithdifferentaccesslevelsaccordingtotheinternalsecuritylevelsofeachorganization.LEAsshouldcollaboratealsobetterwiththeSMplatforms,withinregions,countries,EU.Thedevelopmentanddeploymentofcommonlysharedgroupwareandcollaborativeplatformsandinformationportalsforcommunicationandinformationexchangeandsharingisarecommendednecessity.
A central pan-European repository for data, information andpractices sharing acrossLEAswouldbehighlybeneficialforall.Acommonsuchplatformshouldbeinplaceandaccessiblebyall(atleastEuropean)LEAs,anditshouldstorenotonlycriminaldataandinformation, but also investigation practices, tools and methods, current focus ofoperations,criminalprofiles,contactsof investigationandprosecutionexperts.This isnecessary to leverage coordination, reduce double effort and stimulate a sharing andinnovative culture. Creative technical solutions (e.g., a blockchain approach) could beexploitedtoovercomesovereigntyobstacleswhensharingsensitiveinformationacrossnational jurisdictions. Europol and Interpol should play a role in setting up thisrepositoryandcentrallystimulateacollaborativeculture;atthesametime,decentralizedinitiatives(e.g.,existingcentreofexcellenceandtask forces)shouldbeempoweredtobecomereferencepointsbeyondborders.
4.2.6 Training and Education Trainingatstrategic levelwillhelp toovercomethechallengesofseniormanagementsupportwhereasatoperationallevelwillhelptocovertheexistinggapsofknowledge.Attendanceofseniormanagementpersonnel in trainingsessionsandparticipations inworkshops, events and EU projects related to SocialMedia for policingwill get themfamiliarandcomeclosertotheuseofnewandmoderntechnologiesandpracticesintheireveryday operations. This will contribute significantly to the change of their oldtraditionalmindsetandrecoverthelackofthetrustthatsecurityofficerscurrentlyhaveforsocialmediause.
Toparticipate in thedigital space, LEA staffmembers at operational level need tobeequippedwithsufficientdigitalcompetencies.Officersneedregulartrainingonhowtoapproachcitizensthroughsocialmedia, socialmedia investigativemethods, theuseofselectedsocialmediaappsandtechnologies,andespeciallyintheplatformsandappstheyusewithintheirorganizations.
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LEAsmayalsorequireeverypoliceofficertopassatrainingcoursebeforebeingabletousesocialmediaprofessionally.Thisprocedureguaranteesthateveryuserhasacquiredbasicnotionsandproceduresinordertousethesetoolsproperly.Fromaninvestigativestandpoint, officers shouldbe trained inhow to collect intelligence fromsocialmediaoutletswhereaslegalexpertsshouldbetrainedtothelegalandethicalissuesarisingfromthesocialmediause.
LEAs should organize their internal training units, departments or any other trainingteamsespeciallywhenandwherethesearenotalreadypresentintheirorganizations.LEAs have to enforce and uphold legal and moral standards also in the communitypolicing.Theyshouldfocusoneducatingfromtimetotimecitizens,parents,kids,teachershowtosafelyusesocialmediaaswellasteachingvictimshowtocollectevidenceandprotectthemselvesonline.LEAsshouldalsoprovideeducative,informativeandadvisorycontentthroughtheirSMchannelsandinformcitizensaboutthepresenceoftheunofficialsocialmediapagesandgroupsinordertobecarefulandavoidcommunicationwiththem.Inthiswaycitizens’effortscanbesupportedtohelpsteertheminacorrect,lawful,andsafedirection.
Thetrainingsshouldbeadaptedtoeachtypeofsecurityactors.Ageneraltrainingcourseshould be available to all units of an organization covering all the social mediafundamentalsbeforeindividualtrainingmodulesareappliedtoeachunit.
4.2.7 Legal Affairs and Legislation The fact that information production and sharing is constantly increasing. hasimplicationsontherightsandfreedomsofindividuals.Ethicalandlegalissues,suchasthehandlingofpersonaldataoralgorithmicbiases,needtobecarefullytreatedespeciallywhenusingsocialnetworksforsecuritypurposes.
When searching and collecting socialmedia data formonitoring, surveillance and forusingitasevidenceincriminalinvestigations,usualprecautionsofcriminallawapply.Inordertobestdealwithissuesofdataprotection,legalguidelinesofdealingwithprivacyissuesandconsentshouldbedeveloped.Thelegaldepartmentcanadviseonthis.Legalteamsshouldthereforebecomemoreactiveactorsinthepractitioners’organizationsinthesocialmediaareaandreviewEuropeancountries’legislationrelatedtosocialmediainordertoprovideaclearethical,legalandregulatoryframeworkthatallowsthepolicetousesocialmediawhileensuringthatthelawisnotbeinginfringeduponoranyrightisviolated. More specifically, they should be aware of all the existing EU legislationregardingdataprotection,inparticulartheGeneralDataProtectionRegulation(GDPR)anddirectivesandprovidesupporttoofficersintheireverydayworkrelatedtosocialmedia.Thereisadirectcommunicationneedofthelegal
teamwithalldivisionstosupportthead-hocissuestheycomeacrosseveryday.
4.2.8 Budgets and Investments ThepopularityofsocialmediaandtheInternetisirreversible.Newcommunicationandinformation technologiesandnewdigital publicspaces cannotbe ignoredby securityactors.Policymakerswillhavetomakemediumandlong-terminvestmentsininnovation
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andnewtechnologies.Governmentsatalllevelsneedtounderstandthecomplexityandpotentialofnewtechnologiesandrespondprospectivelytothechallengestheypose.
At the local level, cities and local authorities could develop diagnoses on (1) citizens’needs, (2) what they know about and how they use information technologies (e.g.seniors), (3) towhatextent they trustapps, (4) towhatdegreecitizensarewilling tocooperatewithLEAs,notablythroughtechapps.Governments,atEuropeanandnationallevel could allocate ring-fenced budgets to improve infrastructures and promotetechnologicaladvancesaswellastheexchangeofgoodpractices.
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5. Conclusions
Socialmediahavebecomeanextensionofthephysicalpublicspace.ThemainchallengesforLEAsinthemid-tolong-termaretounderstandthisdigitalmutation,adapttothisnewreality,learnaboutitsdynamics,andprotectcitizensfromthepotentialriskstheyfaceeitheronlineorinthephysicalworld.
BasedonalltheMedi@4secoutcomesfromits3-yearslifecycle,includingthecontactswithvariouspractitionersfromdifferentagenciesandcountries,throughthe6organizedproject workshops and the surveys and interviews conducted, we summarize thefollowingmain findings on socialmedia use, needs, challenges and recommendationsprovidedtopublicsecuritypractitioners.
OrganizationandITinfrastructureandresourcesseemnottobesufficienttodaytoembedsocialmediainthecurrentworkprocesses.Changeofseniormanagementmindsetandreengineeringoforganizationstructureandproceduresareneededtoutilizeexistingandemploy new human and IT resources for the demanding and evolving social mediarequirementsinordertoinform,advise,counteractandpreventpublicbothfromofflineandonlinenewtypesofcrimesemerginginthecyberspaceofthesurface,deepanddarkweb.
SocialMedia today ismostlyusedby thecommunicationandemergencydepartmentsfocusingonthecommunication,publicengagementandperiodicalcrisisincidents.Socialmediastrategyandpolicybasedonspecificgoals,objectives,standardsandrules,needtobeestablishedforsafeS.Museandforitsextensiontootherunits.
Most of the agencies started their social media presence after 2010with centralizedmanagementatorganizationratherthanatoperationalunitoratregionalagencylevel.Although the presence is centralized, the data, information and knowledge aredistributed, not in sharable and accessible digital forms. Common intelligencerepositoriesandcollaborativeplatformsandportalsneedtobedevelopedandsharedinternallyandexternallybetweenLEAs’atorganizational,local,nationalandEUlevel.
Training practitioners’ personnel and educating citizens on a regular basis, as socialmediatechnologyevolves,isoneofthemostdemandingtopicsintheagendaofneedsandrecommendationsinordertokeeptheknowledgeup-todateandonestepaheadofthecriminals,whobecomemoreandmoreadvancedandsophisticatedintheuseofthenewtechnology. Training report with methodology, guidelines and learning content isavailablethroughtheD3.6deliverable.
Dataprotection legislationmightpose someobstacles toLEAswhen conducting theirenforcement and intelligence activities.Member Stateshave each their own rulesandlegalframework,whichcanpresentaproblemsincetheonlinespacehasnoborders,andeven thoughall administrations andbusinesses are required to complywith thisnewregulation,manyarestill not enoughawareand ready. Legal teamsofpublic securitypractitioners should get trained and involved actively in these issues to advise andsupportotherdivisionsforalawfulsocialmediause.
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6. References
MEDI@4SEC(2016).ReportonStateoftheArtReviewDeliverableD1.1
MEDI@4SEC(2016).Worldwide Mapping of Best Practices and Lessons Learnt,DeliverableD1.2
MEDI@4SEC(2017).Workshop1Report:DIYPolicing,Delliverable2.3
MEDI@4SEC(2017).Workshop2Report:Riots&MassGatherings,Deliverable2.4
MEDI@4SEC(2017).Workshop3Report:PolicingtheDarkWeb,Deliverable2.5
MEDI@4SEC(2017).Workshop4Report:EverydaySecurity,Deliverable2.6
MEDI@4SEC(2018).Workshop5Report:ThePolicingofTrolling,Hate,andLiesOnline,Deliverable2.7
MEDI@4SEC(2018).Workshop6Report:InnovativeMarketSolutions,Deliverable2.8
MEDI@4SEC(2017).Social Media for Everyday Security: Ethical and Legal IssuesDeliverable4.4
Vries,de,A.,&Smilda,F.,(2014).Socialmedia:hetnieuweDNA.ReedBusinessEducationVries,de,A.,(2011).SocialeMediaSWOTmeteentwiststerktes.Retrievedat09-13-2016viahttp://bit.ly/2c82awm.
Statista,TheStatisticsPortal:Facebook:numberofdailyactiveusersworldwide2011-2018,https://www.statista.com/statistics/346167/facebook-global-dau/
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Appendix 1 Questionnaire: Social Media Utilization by Public Security Stakeholders
Theemergingroleofnewsocialmedia
inenhancingpublicsecurity
Project Ref. N° MEDIA4SEC H2020 - 700281 FCT-15-2015: Ethical/Societal Dimension Topic 3: Better
understanding the role of new social medianetworksandtheiruseforpublicsecuritypurposes
www.media4sec.eu
SocialMediaUtilizationbyPublicSecurityStakeholders
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QUESTIONNAIREMedi@4secQuestionnaire
Purpose
The current questionnaire is carried out for the purposes of EU Research Project:MEDIA4SEC:SocialMediainPublicSecurity&Safety,andtheinfowhichwillbeprovidedbytheparticipantswillbeusedsolelyforthispurpose.Objective
Theaimofthesurveyistoidentifycurrentandfuturesocialmediauseandneedsofpublicsecurityandsafetystakeholders.Theresultsofthesurveytogetherwiththeknowledgeand practices produced throughout the project will help the project to provideRecommendationsandtrainingmaterial.Participants-TargetGroup
The audience of the survey consists mainly of Law Enforcement Agencies andpractitionerswhoarepartnersfromtheproject’sconsortiumormembersoftheproject’snetworksandcommunityalreadyusingorintendtousesocialmediaattheiragencies.GeneralGuidelines
The survey will be conducted either by interviews arranged between the project’sconsortiummembersandthepractitionersorsending,fillingandreturningtheformbyemail.Questionnairecanbefilledalsofromagenciesthatdonotusesocialmediabyselectingtheappropriateavailableanswers.Thequestionnaireconsistsof2parts:
III. OrganizationalandAgencyDetailsIV. SocialMediaCurrentandFutureUseandNeeds
The‘SocialMediaCurrentandFutureuseandneeds’partcoversthefollowingsections:
• SocialMediaPresence&Usage• Strategy,Policy&Management• Tasks,Activities&Practices• Concerns,Constraints&Challenges• Technology• Training
Thereare4differenttypesofquestionsinthequestionnaire:
a. Rating(0-4)thelevelordegreeofimportance,concern,challengeetcb. 2x2matrixofoptionsfillingthecellswith‘X’whereoptionsapplyc. Selectingoneoftheoptionsavailablefillingtheboxwith‘X’whereoption
appliesd. Selectingmultipleoptionsfillingtheboxeswith‘X’whereoptionsapply
Aftermostofthequestionsthereisanopenlineforanyadditionalcommentthatcanbefilled.As‘Agency’inthisquestionnaireisconsideredaUnit,Directorate,DivisionorDeptintheOrganization (e.g HELLENIC POLICE is the ‘Organization’ and PRESS OFFICE will beconsideredas‘Agency’).‘S.M’willbeusedinthequestionnaireasabbreviationforSocialMedia.
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I.ORGANIZATIONAL&AGENCYINFORMATION
1. Organizationinformationa.Organisation________________________________________________b. Country/City________________________________________________ c. Organizationtype:☐Police ☐Municipality☐Government/LocalAuthorities ☐OtherLEA IfOther,stateorganisationtype..........................................................................................
2. AgencyInformationa.AgencyTitle________________________________________________________b.Agency’sSector/Tasks:☐PressOffice/Communication ☐Cybercrimeunit☐InformationTechnology ☐ DataIntelligence ☐Monitoring&Surveillance ☐ CrimePrevention☐Investigations&Enforcement ☐EmergencyServices/CrisisManagement ☐ Training ☐Legalsector☐ OtherIfOther,pleasespecify_______________________________________________________b. Agencysizebynooffull-timepersonnel
☐1-9 ☐10-24 ☐25-49 ☐50-99 ☐100-499 ☐500+
c. Noofregional/districtagenciesasrepresentativesofyouragency ☐1-5☐6-15☐16-25☐26-49☐50-99 ☐100-249☐250-499 ☐500-999☐1000+
d. Populationservedbyyouragency ☐Under2500☐ 2500-9999☐10000-49999☐50000-99999☐100000-249999☐250000-499999 ☐ 500000+
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II.SOCIALMEDIACURRENT&FUTUREUSE&NEEDS
PRESENCE&USAGE
1. YearagencystartedusingS.M:☐Before2006☐2007☐2008☐2009☐2010 ☐2011☐2012☐2013☐2014☐2015☐2016☐2017☐2018☐Notyet2. Doesyouragencyhaveitsownoruseorganization’sS.Mpresence?☐Wehaveourownpresence☐Weuseorganization’spresence☐NopresenceinS.M3. Markwith‘X’youragency’spresenceinthefollowingS.Mplatforms.
SOCIALMEDIAPLATFORMS
NoOFACCOUNTPROFILES
NoOFPAGES/GROUPS/CHANNELS
0 1 2-3 4-5 6+ 0 1 2-3 4-5 6+
BLOG FACEBOOK TWITTER LINKEDIN GOOGLE+ YOUTUBE INSTAGRAM FLICKR PINTEREST INTERNALLYDEVELOPED
OTHER If‘INTERNALLYDEVELOPED’platformisusedspecify_____________________________________IfOtherplatformisused,pleasespecify______________________________________________4. Nooffull-timepersonnelworkingonS.Minyouragency☐ 0 ☐1-3 ☐ 4-6 ☐ 7-9 ☐10-14 ☐ 15+ 5. Noofhoursweeklyspentinupdating/maintenanceofS.M☐ 0 ☐1-5 ☐ 6-10 ☐ 11-20 ☐21-30 ☐ 31-40 ☐ 41+ 6. Whichmetrics,ifany,youusetomeasurethesuccessofyourS.Muse?☐Noofmembers/friends/follows/connections☐Noofinteractions(comments,posts,replies)☐Nooflikes ☐Noofnewmembers ☐NoMetricsSTRATEGY,POLICY&MANAGEMENT7. HasyouragencyaS,MStrategy?(Goals&ActionPlan)☐Yes ☐No ☐NotsureIfYesgivethe3topmaingoals___________________________________________________8. DoesyouragencyhaveorneedtohaveaS.MPolicy?(Writtenrules)☐Yes,wehave ☐It’sunderdevelopment ☐Weneedtohave ☐NoneedComments:__________________________________________________________________9. Whoismanagingyouragency’sS.Mentities(Accounts,pages,groupsetc)?☐PublicInfoOfficer ☐Chiefexecutive ☐ Crime prevention officer☐CommandStaff☐Communitypolicingofficer☐Civilianpersonnel☐Officer ☐OtherIfOther,pleasespecify_________________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________
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10. Do you have or need to have S.M presence/use at your regional/district
representatives?(DecentralizedS.MPolicy)☐Yes,wehave☐Shorttermneed☐Long-termneed ☐NotinourpolicyComments:__________________________________________________________________
11. IsS.Mcontentapprovedbyacentralgroup/personbeforeposted?☐Yes ☐No ☐Don’tknow Comments:__________________________________________________________________TASKS,ACTIVITIES&PRACTICES12. Whichactivitiesarecoveredtodayorneedtobeinyourshort/long-termlist
ofS.Muse?(Mark‘X’whereapplicable)TASKS&ACTIVITIESRELATEDTOS.MUSE Covered
TodayShort
termneedLongtermneed
Noneed
Communication&Engagement Monitoring&Surveillance CrimePrevention Disruption Investigations&Enforcement Cybercrime CrisisManagement&Emergencies ITinfrastructure,Apps&Tools DataIntelligencegathering/analysis Legalaspects Training OTHER IfOther,pleasespecify_________________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________13. Communicationactivitiescoveredorneedtobeinyourshort/long-termlistof
S.Muse?(Mark‘X’whereapplicable)COMMUNICATIONTASKS&ACTIVITIES
RELATEDTOS.MUSECoveredToday
Shorttermneed
Longtermneed
Noneed
Communityoutreach/PublicRelations Informing/Advisingpublicongeneralsecurityandsafetytopics
Notifyingpublicofcrimeproblems/incidents Notifyingofnon-crimeissues(traffic) Listening/Participatingtopublicinfoinformation
Respondingtopublicinquiries/reports Disseminatingagency’ssuccessstories In-servicetraining OTHER IfOther,pleasespecify_________________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________
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14. Investigationactivitiescoveredorneedtobeinyourshort/long-termlistofS.Muse?(Mark‘X’whereapplicable)INVESTIGATIONTASKS&ACTIVITIES
RELATEDTOS.MUSECoveredToday
Shorttermneed
Longtermneed
Noneed
Undercoveractivitytomonitororgatherinfo Postingsurveillancevideoorimagestosolicitassistancefromthepublic
ReviewS.Mprofiles/activitiesofsuspects ReviewS.Mprofiles/activitiesofvictims OTHER IfOther,pleasespecify_________________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________15. Otheractivities/practicescoveredorneedtobeinyourshort/long-termlistof
S.Muse?(Mark‘X’whereapplicable)OTHERACTIVITIES&PRACTICESRELATED
TOS.MUSECoveredToday
Shorttermneed
Longtermneed
Noneed
OnlinePatrol Organizepublicvolunteering Crowdsourcecrimetips Darkweb,darknetmarketsandservices Trolling/hatespeech/cyberbullying Fakenews/misinformation/disinformation CrowdManagement/massgatheringincidentsandevents
Onlineradicalization/violentextremism/terroristcontentandactivities
OTHER IfOther,pleasespecify_________________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________16. Withwhichothersectorsyouhaveorneedtohaveinteroperabilityandinfo
exchange?(Joinupactivities)-(Mark‘X’whereapplicable)OTHERSECTORSHAVINGJOINUPACTIVITIESRELATEDTOS.M
CoveredToday
Shorttermneed
Longtermneed
Noneed
PressOffice/Communication InformationTechnology DataIntelligence Cybercrimeunit CrimePrevention Investigations&Enforcement EmergencyServices/CrisisManagement TrainingAcademy LegalSector OTHER
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IfOther,pleasespecify_________________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________CONCERNS:BARRIERS,CONSTRAINTS&CHALLENGES
17. Rate(0-4)youragency’scurrent&futureconcernsinS.Muse?(Markyourrate
with‘X’)CONCERNS IMPORTANCE
0 1 2 3 4
Organization’s/Agency’sReputation/Image/Liability/Trust
HumanResourcesconstraints(Availability/Recruitment)
PersonnelS.MTraining&SkillsDevelopment FinancialResourcesConstraints Technology/Infrastructureconstraints Legislationconstraints(DataProtection,Privacyetc) Mindset/Culturechanges/adaptationtonewtrends InternalProcessRe-Engineering/Restructuring MonitoringAgency’sS.Mactivity&MeasuringS.MImpact
Informing/Advising/Notifying/Respondingtopublic OTHER IfOther-specify__________________________________________________________________Pleasestateyourrecommendationsforyour3topmainconcerns:________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
TECHNOLOGY18. Rate(0-4)thelevelofimportanceofS.Mplatformsforyouragency’sneeds?(Markyourratewith‘X’)
SOCIALMEDIA
PLATFORMS
IMPORTANCE SOCIALMEDIAPLATFORMS
IMPORTANCE
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
Blog Instagram Facebook Flickr Twitter Pinterest Linkedin Whatsapp Google+ Skype Youtube MobileApps OTHER Gaming
platforms
IfOther-specify______________________________________________________________
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19. Rate(0-4)thelevelofimportanceofvariousS.Mapplications,toolsandservicesasameansforyouragency’stasksandoperationalneeds?(Markyourratewith‘X’)SOCIALMEDIAAPPLICATIONS,TOOLS&SERVICES IMPORTANCE
0 1 2 3 4
MobileCommunication&AlertAppstointeractwithcitizens Monitoringandtrackingtools DashboardsformanagingmultipleS.Mtools ToolsthatautomatemanagementofS.Mplatforms InformationPortalforcorporateuse S.Mdatacapturing/analytics&Intelligencetoolsfordecisionmaking
e-learningplatformandtrainingtools AccesstolegislativeInfoPortals AccesstoEU/InternationalD.Bases S.MMetricstools OTHER IfOther-specify______________________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________
20. Doyoualreadyhaveorintendtohavein-housedevelopmentoroutsourcingS.Mtechnologyandservicestoanexternalfirm?(Mark‘X’whereapplicable)SOCIALMEDIATECHNOLOGY
DEVELOPMENT&IMPLEMENTATION
Alreadyhave
Intendtohavein
short-term
Intendtohaveinlong-
term
Don’tintendto
In-houseDevelopedTechnology OutsourcingTechnology/Services Pleasenamethein-houseand/ortheoutsourcingtechnology/servicesyouhaveinyouragency.______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
TRAINING21. Rate(0-4)theoveralllevelofS.MKnowledgeandExperienceofyouragency’s
personnel(Markyourratewith‘X’)PERSONNEL’SSOCIALMEDIAKNOWLEDGE&EXPERIENCE
0=VeryLow
1=Low 2=Average 3=Good 4=VeryGood
Knowledge Experience Comments:__________________________________________________________________
22. TheS.Mtrainingyouragency’spersonnelreceivedsofar☐Notraining ☐InternalTraining ☐Externalfromtrainingprovider ☐Self-trainingComments:__________________________________________________________________
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23. Whichtrainingformswouldfittoyouragency?☐e-Learning ☐Classroom ☐Workshops☐OtherIfOther-specify______________________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________24. Inwhichofthefollowingtopicstrainingneedsexistinyouragency?☐LearningtheS.Mbasics ☐ImprovingS.Museandpresence☐Engagingthecommunity ☐Educatingcitizens☐EstablishingS.Mpolicy/rules ☐ Protectingagencyfromliabilityissues☐Toolsforconductinginvestigations ☐ Dataprivacy&protection☐Monitoring&Trackingentities/activities☐ SharingInfowithintheorganizationoragency☐OtherIfOther,pleasespecify_______________________________________________________Comments:__________________________________________________________________
WhatkindofrecommendationsyouwouldwishtohavefromMEDI@4SECandinwhichareas/topicsinvolvingS.M,foryouragency’soperationalneeds.
Pleasedescribetheimpacts,ifany,yourorganization/agencyhadfromMEDI@4SECprojectsofar.
QuestionnaireParticipant’sName__________________________________________________Participant’spositionandjobintheagency_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Theparticipantgiveshis/herconsentthattheinformationprovidedinthisquestionnairewillbeusedanonymouslyandsolelyfortheresearchpurposesoftheEuropeanfundedproject‘Medi@4sec’.
MANYTHANKS
FORANSWERINGTHEQUESTIONNAIRE!!!
TheMEDI@4SECConsortium
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Appendix 2 Analysis of Questionnaire Results
A. DemographicCharacteristics
The participants in total 37 (N=37), came from a group of practitioners from theMEDI@4SECConsortium(EFUS,EOS,HP,PLV,PSNI)aswellasfromtheStatePoliceoftheRepublic of Latvia.Theprojectpartners contacted eachparticipant, to voluntarilycompletethequestionnaire,afterpresentingthemtheaimoftheproject’sresearch.
Themajorityof the sample (67.57%)belongs to thePolice,with the rest tobelong toMunicipality (16.22%), Government/Local Authorities (10.81%) and “Other LEA”(5.41%),(Figure1).TheirSectors/TasksvaryfromInformationTechnology,CyberCrimeandLegaltoMonitoringandSurveillance,DataIntelligenceandCommunication,asFigure2outlines.Greece,basedonFigure3depiction,wasthecountrywiththehighestnumbersofresponses(21.6%)withItalyandNorthernIrelandtofollowwiththesamepercentage(16.2%).Almost2outof10agencieshaveeither1-9or500+fulltimepersonnelwiththeresttofallrelevantlyequallytotheothercategories(Figure4).Halfoftheparticipants(51.85%) have 1-5 regional/district agencies as representatives of their agenciesrespectively (Figure 5) while approximately 68% of them serve more than 500.000people(Figure6)
Figure1:OrganizationTypeoftheSample(N=37)
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Figure2:Sector/TasksoftheParticipantAgencies
Figure3:Participants’CountryofOrigin
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Figure4:AgencySizebyNo.ofFull-timePersonnel
Figure5:No.ofregional/districtagenciesasrepresentativesofeachparticipant
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Figure6:Populationservedbyeachagency
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B. DataAnalysis:SocialMediaCurrentandFutureUseNeeds
Descriptive statistics provide simple summaries about the sample and about theobservations that have been made. Such summaries may be either quantitative, i.e.summarystatistics,orvisual,i.e.simple-to-understandgraphs.Suchsummarieswillbealsoappliedintheprovideddatafromtheparticipantssoastoformthebasisofamoreextensivestatisticalanalysis.
Tobeginwith,asFigure7outlines,thereisagreatvariabilityregardingtheyeareachparticipant started using SocialMedia Services,with 6 of them to have2010 as theirinitiationyearand4ofthemtonotyethavestarted.
Figure7:YeareachAgencystartedusingSocialMediaServices
Almost51%oftheparticipantshavetheirownpresenceintheSocialMedia,while40%ofthemusetheirOrganization’spresence(Figure8)
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Figure8:Agency’sS.M.presenceinSM
As faras theNo.ofAccountprofilesaswellastheNo. ofPages/Groups/ChannelsperSocial Media Platform is concerned, Figure 9 and 10 give a detailed outline of theparticipants’responses.Mostoftheparticipantshaveeither0ormostly1accountprofileperSM,whileaminorityofthemhavemorethan2especiallyinFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.
Figure9:Agencies'No.ofAccountProfilesinSMplatforms
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Blog
Faceb
ook
Linke
dIn
+
Youtub
e
Instag
ram Flickr
Pintere
st
Intern
ally
Other
Frequencies
SocialMediaPlatforms
Agencies' No. of Account Profiles
0
1
2-3
4-5
6+
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TurningtotheNoofPages/Groups/ChannelsperSocialMedia,thesituationisalmostthesame as above, with most of the participants to vary between 0 and 1page/group/channel per Social media, mostly leading to zero. Only exception theFacebook and Twitter SMs, where participants have more than onepages/groups/channels.
Figure10:Agencies'No.ofPages/Groups/ChannelsinSMplatforms
4outof10participantshavenotanydedicatedpersonworkingonSMintheiragency,while approximately 33% of the respondents have 1-3 dedicated people to the SMmanagement(Figure11)
Figure11:No.ofFulltimepersonnelworkingonSMineachagency
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Blog
Google+
Youtube
Instagram Fli
ckr
Internally
Other
Frequencies
SocialMediaPlatforms
Agencies' No. of Pages/Groups/Channels
0
1
2-3
4-5
6+
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In addition to that, 2 out of ten participants spend zero hours weekly inupdating/maintaining theirSM,whilealmost30%of the totalnumberof respondentsspendmorethan41hoursonaweekbasis(Figure12).
Figure12:No.ofhoursspentinupdating/maintenanceofS.M.FourteenrespondentsprefertousealltheproposedmetricssoastomeasurethesuccessoftheirS.M.,whileonly5ofthetotalnumberofparticipantsdonotuseanymetricatall.As depicted in Figure 13, the most preferable metric is the No ofmembers/friends/follows/connectionswiththeresttofollow.
Figure13:FrequencyofthemostpreferablemetricstomeasurethesuccessoftheS.Muse
79%
71%
59%
50%
No of members/friends/follows/connections
No of interactions(comments,posts,replies)
No of likes
No of new members
Metrics to measure the success of the S.M use
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MorethanhalfoftheparticipatingagencieshaveanexistingS.M.strategywithcleargoalsandactionplan(Figure14)andalmostthesamepercentagehasaclearS.M.policy, intermsofwrittenrules,with36%oftherespondentstorecognizetheexistenceofsuchrulesasverynecessaryfortheiragency.
Figure14:Existenceofeachagency'sS.MStrategy(Goals&ActionPlan)
Figure15:CurrentorFutureneedofexistenceofAgency’sS.Mpolicy(Writtenrules)
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Turningtowhoisthemanageroftheagency’sS.Mentities(Accounts,pages,groupsetc.),sixoftheagencieshavenotselectedanyoftheoptionsgiventothem,withtherestofthemtovaryamongtheotheroptionsasdepictedinFigure16.
Figure16:ManageroftheAgency’sS.M.entities4 out of 10 agencies already have S.M presence/use at their regional/districtrepresentatives (Decentralized S.M Policy) and approximately 1/3 of the totalrespondentsrecognizetheformerasashort-termneedoftheiragency(Figure17)
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Figure17:CurrentorneedforfutureS.Mpresenceattheagency’sregional/district
representatives(DecentralizedS.MPolicy)
MovingtowhethertheS.Mcontentisapprovedbyacentralgroup/personbeforeposted,theresponseswerealmostdividedtoyesandno,asoutlinedinFigure18.
Figure18:ApprovalofS.Mcontentbyacentralgroup/personbeforeposted
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In the next sections, the following Figures (from Figure 19 to Figure 23) report theFrequencies(percentages)oftheTasksActivitiesandPracticesrelatedtotheS.M.useofeachagencyandwhetherthelatterarecurrentlycovered,iftheyareanecessityonashortoralong-termoriftheyarenotneededatall.Tobeginwith,asdepictedinFigure19Communicationengagement(73%),MonitoringandSurveillance(45.9%)andCrisisManagementandEmergencies(45.9%)arethemostfrequentactivitiesrelatedtoS.M.usethatarecurrentlycoveredbytheagencies,whileITinfrastructureAppsandtools(58.3%)andDisruption(56.8%)arenotconsideredtobeanecessityformorethanhalfoftherespondents.
Figure19:ActivitiesrelatedtoS.M.Use(currentorfuturenecessity)
MovingtoCommunicationTasksandActivitiesrelatedtoS.Muse,thetopthreeActivitiesthatarecurrentlycoveredare Informing/Advisingpublicongeneral securityandsafetytopics(86.1%),Communityoutreach/PublicRelations(81.1%)andDisseminatingagency’ssuccess stories (64.9%). Listening/ Participating to public info information (21.6%) isconsideredtobeashort-termneedby2outof10respondentswhileIn-servicetrainingarenotconsideredtobeanecessityfor40.5%oftherespondents
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%70.0%80.0%90.0%
100.0%
Commun
icatio
n & Eng
agem
ent
Monito
ring &
Surveil
lance
Crime P
reven
tion
Disrup
tion
Inves
tigati
ons &
Enforce
ment
Cyber
crime
Crisis
Manag
emen
t & Emerg
encie
s
IT infra
struc
ture,
Apps &
Tools
Data In
tellig
ence
gathe
ring/a
nalys
is
Lega
l asp
ects
Trainin
g
Activities related to S.M. Use
Covered Today Short-term need Long-term need No need
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Figure20:CommunicationTasksandActivitiesrelatedtoS.MUse
AsfarasInvestigationTasks&ActivitiesrelatedtoS.Museisconcerned,themajorityofthe participants (48.6% - 62.2%) do not have or find neither of the four proposedtasks/activitiesnecessarytoadoptbothinshortandinlong-term(Figure21).Thesameappliesforotheractivities/practicescoveredorneedtobeintheirshort/long-termlistofS.Muse,asatleast4outof10respondentsdonotbelievethereisanyneedtoadoptanyofthelistedtasksinordertoenforcetheirS.Muse(Figure22).Theonlyexceptionsare the Fake news/misinformation/ disinformation and the CrowdManagement/massgatheringincidentsandevents,whicharecurrentlyadoptedbyalmost35%and37%oftheparticipantsrespectively(Figure22)
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
Commun
ity ou
treac
h/Pub
lic R
elatio
ns
Inform
ing/Adv
ising
publi
c on g
enera
l sec
urity
and s
afety
topics
Notifyi
ng pu
blic o
f crim
e prob
lems/
incide
nts
Notifyi
ng of
non-c
rime i
ssue
s (tra
ffic)
Listen
ing/ P
articip
ating
to pu
blic i
nfo in
formati
on
Respo
nding
to pu
blic i
nquir
ies/re
ports
Dissem
inatin
g age
ncy’s
succ
ess s
tories
In-se
rvice
traini
ng
Communication Tasks and Activities related to S.M Use
Covered Today Short-term need Long-term need No need
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Figure21:InvestigationTasks&ActivitiesRelatedtoS.MUse
Figure22:OtherActivities/PracticesrelatedtoS.M.use
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%70.0%80.0%90.0%
100.0%
Undercover activityto monitor or gather
info
Posting surveillancevideo or images tosolicit assistancefrom the public
Review S.Mprofiles/activities of
suspects
Review S.Mprofiles/activities of
victims
Investigation Tasks & Activities Related to S.M Use
Covered Today Short-term need Long-term need No need
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%70.0%80.0%90.0%
100.0%
Online
Patrol
Organiz
e pub
lic vo
luntee
ring
Crowds
ource
crim
e tips
Dark
web
, dark
net m
arkets
and s
ervice
s
Trollin
g/hate
spee
ch/cy
ber b
ullyin
g
Fake n
ews/
misinfor
mation
/ disin
formati
on
Crowd M
anag
emen
t/mas
s gath
ering
…
Online
radic
aliza
tion/v
iolen
t extr
emism
/…
Other Activities/Practices related to S.M. use
Covered Today Short-term need Long-term need No need
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Finallythemajorityoftherespondentscurrentlyhasinteroperabilityandinfoexchangeespeciallywith thePressOffice/Communication (78.4%), theEmergency Services/CrisisManagement (62.2%) and theCrime Prevention (51.4%),with the total percentage toincreasewhenshortandlong-termneedsarealsoadded(Figure23).
Figure23:OthersectorshavingjoinupactivitiesrelatedtoS.M
Turningtotheparticipants’concernsaroundbarriers,constraints,andchallengestheyfaceormayfaceinthefutureregardingtheirS.Muse,accordingtoFigure24,thelistedconcernsrangefrommediumtohighlevelsofimportancewiththeleastimportanttobetheInternalProcessRe-Engineering/Restructuring(Mean=1.6)andthemostimportanttobe the Organization’s/Agency’s Reputation/Image/Liability/Trust (Mean=2.9) and theInforming/Advising/Notifying/Respondingtopublic(Mean=2.9)
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%70.0%80.0%90.0%
100.0%
Press O
ffice/C
ommun
icatio
n
Inform
ation
Techn
ology
Data In
tellig
ence
Cyb
ercrim
e unit
Crime P
reven
tion
Inves
tigati
ons &
Enfo
rcemen
t
Emergen
cy Serv
ices/C
risis…
Trainin
g Aca
demy
Lega
l Sec
tor
Other sectors having join up activities related to S.M
Covered Today Short-term need Long-term need No need
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Figure24:MeansofLevelofImportancearoundagencies’currentandfutureconcernsinS.M
useTheparticipantshaveonaverageratedTwitterandFacebookasthemostimportantS.MPlatformsfortheiragencies’needs,whileFlickr,Google+andGamingPlatformsaretheleastimportantforthem(Figure25)
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Figure25:MeansofLevelofImportanceofeachS.Mplatformaccordingtoagencies’needs
BasedonFigure26,alltheproposedapplications,toolsandservicesasmeans for theagencies’tasksandoperationalneedsareofmediumtohighlevelsofimportance:MobileCommunicationandAlertAppshavebeenratedasthemostimportantfromthemajorityof the respondents (Mean=3.2), while S.M Metric tools are of medium importance(Mean=2.3)
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Figure26:MeansofLevelofimportanceofvariousS.Mapplications,toolsandservicesasa
meansforagencies’tasksandoperationalneedsAsfarastechnologyfortheS.Mdevelopmentandimplementationisconcerned,ontheonehandalmost35%oftheparticipantsalreadyhaveitin-housedeveloped,while29%intendstodothisinashort(20%)orlong-term(8.57%)periodoftime(Figure27).Ontheotherhand,morethanhalfoftherespondents(53.13%)donotintendtooutsourceittoanexternalfirm(Figure28)
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Figure27:S.MTechnologyDevelopmentandImplementation:InhouseDevelopedTechnology
Figure28:S.MTechnologyDevelopmentandImplementation:OutsourcingTechnology/
Servicestoanexternalfirm
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TurningtothelevelsofS.M.KnowledgeandExperienceoftheagencies’personnel,boththe two metrics have received on average Good rates (Figure 29). The latter is alsoverifiedbyFigures30and31,whereinthefirstalmost48%oftherespondentsratedtheknowledgeoftheirpersonneltobeonagoodlevel,whileinthesecondalmost43%oftherespondentsconsideredthattheirpersonnelhasgoodlevelsofexperience.
Figure29:MeanofLevelsofS.M.KnowledgeandExperienceoftheagencies’personnel
Figure30:OveralllevelofS.MKnowledgeoftheagency’spersonnel
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Figure31:OveralllevelofS.MExperienceoftheagency’spersonnel
With7oftheparticipantstodeclarethattheyhavereceivednotrainingatall,theresthavereceivedatleastoneformoftheproposedS.Mtraining.AsdepictedinFigure32,InternaltrainingandSelftraininghavebeenchosenby18participants,eitherseparatelyorincombinationwitheachother,while12participantshavehiredatrainingproviderfortheirtraining.
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Figure32:Frequencyregardingthetypeoftraininggiventoagencies’personnel
More than7to10participantshavechosene-learningas themostpreferable formoftrainingthatwouldfittotheiragency,withtherestoftheformstobesimilarlyandhighlyselectedeitheraloneorinconjunctionwitheachother(Figure33)
Figure33:Trainingformsthatwouldfittoeachagency
Finally,regardingthelistedtopicsthateachagencyneedstraining,accordingtoFigure24,theleastselectedareProtectingagencyfromliabilityissuesandToolsforconductinginvestigationswhilethemostselectedareEngagingtheCommunityandImprovingS.Museandpresence.Nevertheless,allofthemhavebeenselectedatleastfrom4outof10participants
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Figure34:TrainingNeedsofeachagency
75.0%
72.2%
61.1%
56.8%
55.6%
55.6%
48.6%
48.6%
41.7%
38.9%
IMPROVING S.M USE AND PRESENCE
ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY
LEARNING THE S.M BASICS
MONITORING & TRACKING ENTITIES/ACTIVITIES
ESTABLISHING S.M POLICY/RULES
DATA PRIVACY & PROTECTION
EDUCATING CITIZENS
SHARING INFO WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION OR AGENCY
TOOLS FOR CONDUCTING INVESTIGATIONS
PROTECTING AGENCY FROM LIABILITY ISSUES
Training Needs of each agency