Tap the Power of Social Media to Drive Better

Policing Outcomes
In August 2011 alone, riots erupted in London after Facebook and Twitter
messages fueled youth to gather for a protest. The San Francisco regional
train system BART was struck by multiple protestors using text messages
to coordinate attacks aimed at disrupting train service at peak travel
times. A flash mob, orchestrated via social media, gathered to collectively
rob a Maryland 7-Eleven.
Its clear that criminals are using social media as Proactive, predictive policing The best way
a tool to help them carry out crime and disorder. to fight crime is to prevent it. By identifying
Police need to become just as savvy too, both emerging trends or issues in real time, police
in reactive and predictive responses to criminal forces can deploy staff on the spot to mitigate
situations. Public safety organizations can use crises or alert citizens of pending danger. The
social media as a new ally in combating crime rapid response enabled through social media can
and protecting citizens. help police forces improve outcomes and reduce
crime. Furthermore they can cut costs by being
High-tech approach, high-yield benefits more efficient and productive.
There are a number of ways in which
organizations can use social media, and the uses Reactive policing Just as social media leaves a
are expanding just as fast as the technologies breadcrumb trail to identify looming criminal
themselves. Public safety agencies can also behavior, it also leaves a trail of evidence after
capture the power of social media to move a crime has been committed. Police can identify
toward high performance in policing. Here are which social media accounts were used to
just some of the ways how: identify a target and a time, and check which
users forwarded, retweeted or acknowledged
Intelligence capture When individuals make the information. In cases when photos were
threats or articulate criminal activity, who taken at the actual crime scene, police can
is listening? It is nearly impossible for police disseminate these images via a digital wanted
professionals to track every interaction that poster to engage the public in identifying the
occurs on social media forums. Social media perpetrators(s).
analytics can pore through vast amounts of social
media data to uncover patterns and analyze Public outreach and connecting with the
sentiment. By capturing open source intelligence community Social media enables word of
through analytics, agencies can more adeptly mouth at scale. Its a new channel by which to
discover trends and monitor threats as they grow share prevention advice, build trust and connect
in significance. with the youth market and people who may
otherwise be difficult to reach. Public
safety organizations can also gather
insights about negative sentiments that
are developing, and quickly engage the
public to reverse any adverse publicity
or opinions.
Steps to social media policing
By leveraging Web technologies, digital
social media enables police to improve
outcomes, reduce costs and work more
efficiently and effectively. By following
these steps, public safety organizations
can quickly begin to capture the
benefits of social media:
1. Develop the strategy For police
forces entering this new territory,
its important to outline a social
media plan that identifies how
the medium will be used. Which
social media outlets will you
trackTwitter, Facebook, MySpace?
Which units will be trained how
to use these sites? What practices
should be set in place for evidence
purposes, for example, taking
a screenshot of a page where a
criminal comment is made?
2. Build the infrastructure Work
from what you already have in
place. For example, many police
forces are already using social
media to track sexual predators
online. Identify the people, process
and technology needed to support
strategy. This would most likely
include the ability to analyze trends
in the unstructured text of social
media sites and surface those
trends through existing reporting
and even dispatch systems.
3. Maximize the data The
right infrastructure and the
right analytical tools will yield
information at lightning speed. The
key is to pull unstructured data and
look for trends and patterns within
that information. By harnessing
the power of this data, your
organizations IT investment can
pay for itself.
As police forces take these steps, it is
critical to look at social media as an
extension of current information, not
an island. The information and insights
gathered from social media should be
integrated into current operational,
investigative and intelligence systems
so that, ultimately, there is one single
view of the customer. This golden
record allows for better collaboration
and information sharing across the
enterprise.
Tools to add to the arsenal
Accenture has developed, and is using
in the commercial sector, tools that
enable better capture and analysis of
information generated through social
media outlets.
Accentures Voice of the Customer tool
collects and distills insight generated
from explicit feedback, across all
listening posts. Analytics deliver deep
insight into what customers think
and feel about their needs, attitudes
and preferences, as well as about an
organizations products, services and
brand. Such a tool could be adapted
for policing purposes to provide early
warning of groups or individuals
gathering to do harm.
Text analytics and natural language
processing combine the power of the
unstructured content that is coming
from social media sources with
structured content from third party
sources, customer research and/or
customer service calls and synchronize
the data into a single engine that yields
analytics from a holistic viewpoint.
Accenture also offers a social
media strategy toolkit that guides
organizations through a capabilities
assessment, development of an
organization and governance model,
and strategy.
Policing entities all over the world can
take advantage of such tools to power
more informed policing.
For more information on how to use
social media to drive better outcomes in
policing, contact:
Ger Daly
Managing Director
Accenture Defense & Public Safety
ger.daly@accenture.com
+353 1 646 2171
Jennifer Pratt
jennifer.a.pratt@accenture.com
+1 703 947 1018
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with more
than 236,000 people serving clients in
more than 120 countries. Combining
unparalleled experience, comprehensive
capabilities across all industries and
business functions, and extensive
research on the worlds most successful
companies, Accenture collaborates
with clients to help them become
high-performance businesses and
governments. The company generated
net revenues of US $25.5 billion for the
fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.
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