Social Media Strategy in Policing

Babak Akhgar is Professor of Informatics and Director of CENTRIC (Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organized Crime Research) at Sheffield Hallam University, UK and Fellow of the British Computer Society. He has more than 120 refereed publications in international journals and conferences on strategic information systems with specific focus on knowledge management (KM) and intelligence management. He is member of editorial boards of several international journals and has acted as Chair and Program Committee Member for numerous international conferences. He has extensive and hands-on experience in the development, management and execution of KM-projects and large international security initiatives (e.g., the application of social media in crisis management, intelligence-based combating of terrorism and organized crime, gun crime, cyber-crime and cyber terrorism and cross-cultural ideology polarization). In addition to this, he acts as technical lead in EU security projects (e.g., the EU H2020-project TENSOR on dark web). He has co-edited several books on Intelligence Management. His recent books are titled "Knowledge Driven Frameworks for Combating Terrorism and Organised Crime", "Emerging Trends in ICT Security" ,"Application of Big Data for National Security" and OSINT for Law Enforcement Agencies. Prof Akhgar is board member of the European Organisation for Security (EOS) and member of the academic advisory board of SAS UK.

Petra Saskia Bayerl is Professor of Digital Communication and Security at CENTRIC (Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organized Crime Research) at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. She is a regular speaker at police and security conferences and workshops and member of advisory boards of EU projects as well as program Committee Member for international conferences. Her research lays at the intersection of human-computer interaction, organizational communication and organizational change with a special focus on the impact of technological innovations and public safety. Her research has been published in journals such as MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, New Media and Society and Journal of Organizational Behaviour as well as international conferences in psychology, management, computational linguistics and computer sciences and books. She has co-edited several books, most recently "Application of Big Data for National Security" (Elsevier), "Open Source Intelligence Investigation: From Strategy to Implementation" (Springer), "Community Policing - A European Perspective" (Springer) and "Digitale Polizeiarbeit" (Springer VS).

This book addresses conceptual and practical issues pertinent to the creation and realization of social media strategies within law enforcement agencies. The book provides readers with practical methods, frameworks, and structures for understanding social media discourses within the operational remit of police forces and first responders in communities and areas of concern. This title - bridging the gap in social media and policing literature - explores and explains the role social media can play as a communication, investigation, and direct engagement tool. It is authored by a rich mix of global contributors from across the landscape of academia, policing and experts in government policy and private industry. 

• Presents an applied look into social media strategies within law enforcement;
• Explores the latest developments in social media as it relates to community policing and cultural intelligence;            
• Includes contributions and case studies from global leaders in academia, industry, and government.