An Analysis of Police Department Crisis Communication via Social Media

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111221150505
• Author: Jennifer L. Steele,Nicole Blau
• Date: 01 December 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Quarterly

2023, Vol. 26(4) 520–544

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111221150505

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An Analysis of Police

Department Crisis

Communication via Social

Media

Jennifer L. Steele, PhDand Nicole Blau, PhD

Abstract

When police use-of-force incidents involving citizens occur, it is necessary to examine

the communication post-crisis. Communication via social media is eff‌icient and is

considered a necessary tool in contemporary policing. To date, few studies have in-

vestigated the use of socially mediated messagesin response to use-of-force incidents in

local communities. This research examined the social media sites of six police de-

partments in the United States following the death of George Floyd for themes es-

tablishedin crisis communication research.Findings suggest that police departmentsused

social media to convey empathy, commitment to stakeholders, and self-eff‌icacy, with

empathy being the theme that was used most frequently. As this is an emerging area of

research, directions for future research and policy implementation are discussed.

Keywords

police, social media, crisis communication, police use-of-force, police protests

Introduction

The use of social media has become popular among police departments in the U.S. and is

widely recognized as a necessary tool for policing in the 21

st

Century (President’sTask

Ohio University, Lancaster, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jennifer L Steele, Sociology, Ohio University, 1 Ohio University, Bentley Annex, Athens, OH 45701-2978,

USA.

Email: steelej2@ohio.edu

Force, 2015). In 2015, President Obama, formed a task force to develop nationwide

recommendations for policing in the United States which included the use of social media

as one of the six pillars of law enforcement best practices (President’sTask Force, 2015). In

the following year, the International Association of Chiefs of Police released the results of a

nationwide survey of police departments which found that 96 percent regularly use social

media platforms to communicate with community members (IACP, 2016). These na-

tionwide recommendations are timely, as the most recent survey of Americans reveals

around seven out of ten Americans use social media, and rates of usage for all age groups

haveincreasedfrom2006to2020(Pew Research Center, 2021). While most police

departments in the United States reported using social media, the extent of community

engagement and content of information varies widely by department (Da et al., 2017;

Meijer & Thaens, 2013). Researchers have only begun to research the utility and effec-

tiveness of these platforms when used by police agencies (Hu, Rodgers, & Lovrich, 2018)

and few studies have examined social media communication employed by police de-

partments during times of crisis, (Denef et al., 2013;Dong & Wu, 2022;Procter et al., 2013)

such as the 2020 killing of an unarmed African American George Floyd by police in

Minneapolis, which caused protests and calls for police reform through out the United

States. Social media is a favored channel of communication by most constituents; therefore,

it is prudent that researchers investigate this medium and seek out best practices in times of

crisis.

Review of Literature

Law Enforcement and Social Media

As society becomes increasingly reliant on social media as a communication channel, it

is evident that police departments in the United States have, too, began using this

channel to communicate with the public. Prior research indicates that police depart-

ments have commonly used social media as a tool for surveillance and investigations, to

inform the community of successful police work, to communicate imminent risks to

citizens, to highlight institutional achievements, and for recruitment (Lieberman et al.,

2013;Walsh & O’Connor, 2019). More recently, research has shown the impact of

social media usage to control the departmental image and engage in community re-

lations (Fallik et al., 2020;Lee & McGoven, 2013;O’Connor & Zaidi, 2020;Mawby,

2013;2014), humanize off‌icers and build trust between law enforcement and residents

(Schneider, 2016), and has even been used as a type of electronic community policing

(Hu, 2016;Lieberman et al., 2013). However, recent studies have only started to

examine social media as a tool to produce positive images of police work and bolster

public conf‌idence in the profession (Beshears et al., 2019;Hu et al., 2018;Lee &

McGoven, 2013), especially after use-of-force incidents which may damage police

legitimacy (Cheng, 2021;Dong & Wu, 2022).

According to Espinoza (2021), a well-structured media strategy includes the use of

social media which may be used to promote engagement with the community and

Steele and Blau 521