Abstract
Social media is considered a double-edged sword, with both positive and negative effects. A qualitative research approach was adopted to explore the extent to which and the ways in which South African police use social media in the study area. The findings were collected through semi-structured interviews with 22 participants comprising the South African Police Service (SAPS) officials in the Giyani Cluster policing area. The findings indicate that criminals in the Limpopo Province use social media to commit crimes in the country, other countries in Africa, and elsewhere. The findings also indicate that social media is used to bring positive attention to law enforcement agencies and aid in criminal investigations. Although the positive impact of social media was highlighted in these experiences, persistent problems and challenges also featured in the data. Finally, officer insights were drawn upon to make recommendations for future policing policy and research. This paper concludes that social media as a tool can be utilised in terms of data gathering, prediction and spotting broader patterns, for combating organised crime by the SAPS.
Highlights
The phrase “social media” is used to describe a group of computer-mediated and open-sourced networking platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp, and YouTube (Fallik, Deuchar, Crichlow, & Hodges, 2020, p. 1)
The significance and benefit of this study indicate that all South African Police Service (SAPS) members should be trained in the new techniques of social media as a tool in combating organised crime
SAPS members will benefit from self-development in the required skills, expertise, and academic qualifications, with a view to apply the skills of social media as a tool in proactive and reactive policing
Summary
The phrase “social media” is used to describe a group of computer-mediated and open-sourced networking platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp, and YouTube (Fallik, Deuchar, Crichlow, & Hodges, 2020, p. 1). The International Association of Chiefs of Police (cited in in Uduma, Nwasum, Abaneme, & Icha-Ituma, 2020) defines social media as a category of Internet-based resources that integrate user-generated content and user participation. This is not limited to communal networking sites, microblogging sites, photo- and video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and newsflash sites. There have been steady emergent trends that focus on law enforcement pertaining to the use and role of social media in investigations (Abdalla & Yayilgan, 2014). Surette (2016:67) defines mass media as any communication medium that reaches many people, simultaneously, at little cost to the receiver According to Potgieter and Mersham (2002:55), the term “media” represents the plural of “medium”, and basically entails a “diverse collection of industries and practices, each with their own methods of communication, specific business interests, constraints and audiences”. Briggs and Cobley (1998:1) add that the media finds itself in a state of perpetual flux; the contents of media are constantly changing, and media outlets change ownership, as well as regulations, technologies, and audiences. Surette (2016:67) defines mass media as any communication medium that reaches many people, simultaneously, at little cost to the receiver
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