全球智库信息集成服务系统

Business cases for social media and social network analysis

• The panel discussed five core business cases for employing social media and social network analysis in law enforcement: monitoring for activity indicating short-term safety threats in postings, and communicating responses as needed; identifying those at high risk for involvement in violence; actively monitoring the high-risk to see whether violence may be imminent; investigating organized crime networks; and investigating specific crimes.
• The panel also discussed one core case not to do: monitoring First Amendment–protected activity for vague or unspecified purposes.

Core security, privacy, and civil rights protections

• Data protections relate primarily to documenting procedures and policies, and having protections for, data searches and collections.
• Analysis protections provide a common set of policies and procedures needed for the deployment and use of analytic tools drawing on social media and other personal communications data.
• Action protections ensure both that policing practices are not distorted and that both enforcement and social service actions are employed consistently and equitably.

An innovation agenda for social media analysis and social network analysis in law enforcement

• The first part of the expert panel's innovation agenda is to support working with communities to develop policies and strategies for using social media and social network analysis.
• The second part is technical research on law enforcement–specific social media and social network analysis.
• The third part is supporting law enforcement–specific training on social media and social network analysis.
• The final part is creation of a help desk to help law enforcement agencies navigate requests to social media companies.