Department of Criminalistics at the University of Warsaw

His own profile on Facebook has not only the most famous Polish crown witness Jaroslaw Sokolowski A.K.A. ‘Masa’ – one of a former leaders of an organized criminal group known as ‘Pruszkow’. Within almost 2 billion active users of the most popular social networking site – Facebook – 14 million live in Poland. According to research results 79% of those users are using it (log in) on daily basis. In 2017 the average social media user spends more than two hours a day on different social media platforms and apps.

Many of them use it not only as a platform to communicate with their friends and create own image, but also as a primary source of information about the world. Social media, especially Facebook and Twitter opposed to the traditional media – television, radio, the press – have been recognized as a communication channel and the main source of information for people dissatisfied with the political situation and the mainstream media. The strength of this group proof unforeseen results of several recent democratic elections on both sides of the Atlantic. Some experts indicate that has been due to an underrated impact of social media, especially Facebook and Twitter. Cambridge Analytica scandal confirms those theories. Taking even into account that to some extent these estimates are exaggerated, the role of social media in today’s world is huge. In addition to the Facebook and Twitter those include also YouTube, Instagram, and a number of other platforms and applications, as well as countless Internet forums bringing together from a dozen to many thousands of users. Within those media a number of interactions transferred there from the ‘analog’ world take place. Users spend in it more and more time not only creating own image and being subjected to the influence of other users, but also blur the line between the two realities – digital and analog.

Law enforcement agencies can use and in many instances use social media in order to carry out their tasks. Methods of such use can be grouped into three basic groups: information policy utilizing social media, investigative work (mainly OSINT) and the use of evidence deriving from such media. What remains unknown is the scale of the actual use of social media potential by law enforcement agencies. Some studies indicate that both criminal groups, as well as individual perpetrators benefit from such media in a much greater extent than the investigators. Among the three aforementioned basic groups, the possible use of law enforcement agencies to the fullest extent takes place within the investigative work. That may lead to marginalization of information potential directed towards users-citizens.

The proposed empirical study is primarily designed to let to determine what is the real scale and the art of using social media in the work of law enforcement agencies. This will be achieved by introducing both quantitative research methods such as questionnaire, structured interview and analysis of social media official usage by law enforcement agencies, as well as qualitative research methods: in-depth interviews, case studies and analysis of social media usage by law enforcement agencies. It is important to supplement the anecdotal stories, such as an arrest of the wanted perpetrators who foolishly using the Forsquare application checked in at the specific location. Interesting is also a comparative aspect of this project. The relationship between the widespread use of social media in the given community and the extent of their use by law enforcement agencies at specific location will be explored. The study will also allow to verify hypothesis about the relationship between the age of employees of law enforcement agencies with a way and extent they use social media in their work. An important part of the research is the comparison of the legal acts on the use of social media by law enforcement agencies: what are the possibilities and what are the guarantees of civil liberties and human rights. On the basis of survey results and their analysis, a theoretical model of the use of social media in the work of law enforcement agencies and the relationship between their use and the functioning of law enforcement agencies will be developed. The results of research in addition to the purely cognitive aspects can be taken into account by policy makers who construct frames of effective organization of law enforcement agencies work.