Police departments around the world use Twitter as a means of sharing information with their communities. BrightPlanet recently completed a study to uncover exactly how police departments are using Twitter.
[Infographic] How Police Departments Use Twitter
BrightPlanet® Partners with Law Enforcement and Government Intelligence Consultant
April 19, 2013 – Sioux Falls, S.D. – BrightPlanet Corporation is pleased to announce the addition of Mr. Glenn L. Archer III as a consultant to the BrightPlanet team. Glenn, an accomplished leader with 25+ years of experience in business and government, is working with BrightPlanet to build and improve industry knowledge of our law enforcement and government intelligence solutions. Because of the deep expertise he has gained throughout his career, Glenn will provide invaluable insight into meeting the needs of defense, homeland security and public safety sectors and will guide BrightPlanet in meeting the needs of these markets with their Deep Web and Social Media solutions.
Boston Marathon Tragedy: The Use of Twitter in a Crisis by Law Enforcement and Public Service Agencies
Overnight the Boston Police Department Twitter handle (@Boston_Police) went from 55,000 followers to over 117,000 followers as a result of the Boston Marathon tragedy. Twitter and other social media tools are powerful tools for civilians, law enforcement, and public service agencies during and after a crisis as we saw over the last couple of days.
Final Results of #Poltwt Tweet-a-thon
BrightPlanet has tallied the final results from the Global Law Enforcement Tweet-a-Thon, an event created and produced by LAwS Communications . Over 200 police departments, from at least 10 countries, speaking 23 languages, participated in a 24-hour “virtual ride-along” on March 22-23. #poltwt was even a top 10 trending topic in the United States on March 22.
A total of 15,621 Twitter users produced 48,482 Tweets using the #poltwt hashtag. In addition to giving the public a “virtual ride-along”, the Tweet-a-Thon showcased the synergistic possibilities when police departments and the public cooperate via social media. Everything from door-to-door scam alerts, road closures, traffic accidents, missing persons, and stolen property were reported using #poltwt. We even included some humorous tweets we came across. Continue reading
Meet Mo! – Halfway Through the Law Enforcement Tweet-a-Thon #Poltwt
We are over halfway through the 24-hour Law Enforcement Tweet-a-Thon. Law enforcement agencies from across the world are tweeting police activity to create awareness about police work and the issues police face through the #poltwt hashtag.
#Poltwt is one of the top trending hastags on all of Twitter! So far there have been over 35,000 tweets from over 9,500 users.
Here at BrightPlanet we are using our Deep Web harvesting capabilities to monitor and track the event. You’ll find the most vocal participants, what devices they are using, and the most popular twit pics to name just a few of the stats we’ve compiled in our post. We’ll be pulling together a recap of all the stats next week so check back here to see a full recap and some analysis of the event.
Monitoring the Law Enforcement Tweet-A-Thon
We are less than a day away from the 24-Hour Law Enforcement Tweet-a-thon. Starting Friday at 8 a.m., law enforcement agencies worldwide will tweet police activity for 24 hours to create awareness about police work and the issues police face, as well as to promote the use of social media in policing. Over 150 agencies located on three continents will be using the same hashtag #poltwt throughout the event. During the event, BrightPlanet will monitor the conversation by harvesting all the Tweets with the #poltwt hashtag.
Many Tweets are already rolling in, and we wanted to update you on some current #poltwt data. As of Thursday at 11 a.m. CST, 1,539 Tweets have already been posted with the hashtag #poltwt. Our friend Lauri Stevens from Laws Communications (@Lawscomm) wins the award for “Most Vocal” with over 120 Tweets. Mike Downes, TheCustodySgt, The Dallas Police Department, and the Denton Police Department round out the top 5. Continue reading
Real-Time Situational Awareness: Case Study for Law Enforcement and Social Media Monitoring
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Center for Social Media gives stats about social media use including:
- Every minute of the day, email users send approximately 204,166,677 messages.
- Facebook users share approximately 684,478 pieces of content every minute.
- Twitter users send over 100,000 tweets every minute.
For law enforcement, the information found online and in the Deep Web provides a glimpse into the lives of suspects, victims and witnesses that wouldn’t be possible with a real-life investigation. The information can even be used to stop potentially dangerous situations before they start. With the right Internet monitoring tools, law enforcement can proactively stay ahead of criminal activity instead of only reacting to it.
Posted in Case Studies, Law Enforcement
Tagged big data, Big Data case study, law enforcement, social media monitoring
[BEST PRACTICES] Guidelines for Criminal Intelligence gathering
When it comes to harvesting open-source Big Data from the Deep Web, stakeholders within every step of the data chain are concerned about the legal issues surrounding privacy and civil liberties.
Professionals in law enforcement and the intelligence community, in particular, are concerned with protecting privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. Below are two helpful links from the Institute for Intergovernmental Research and U.S. Government Printing Office regarding criminal intelligence gathering.
- Institute for Intergovernmental Research – best practices for criminal intelligence information gathering from the U.S. Department of Justice
- U.S. Government Printing Office - Executive Order regarding criminal intelligence information gathering
Posted in Deep Web and Big Data, Law Enforcement
Tagged best practices, Intelligence Community, law enforcement, monitoring, privacy
The Benefits of Social Media Monitoring for Law Enforcement
Social media monitoring is changing the way law enforcement does business, much the same way social media itself has changed the way people communicate with each other. With more social media users sharing their thoughts and actions with the public at large, law enforcement has two new challenges: First, with that much more data to sift through, how can social media monitoring find the most relevant evidence? And secondly, how can they pinpoint when and where those messages took place, when everything is posted to the virtual cloud?
Why Law Enforcement Needs to Monitor Social Media
The Internet is the most popular outlet of communication with billions of messages exchanged online every day, but not all of them are legal. Easy access, speed, and wide message reach through social media make the Internet an ideal platform for letting people know what you are planning, coordinating, or selling.
Dealers advertise illegal drugs, revolutionaries plot potentially violent demonstrations, criminals message other criminals, and unknowing witnesses describe crimes happening in front of them. Monitoring these events in real-time through social media helps transform law enforcement from a reactionary service to a collection of proactive crime stoppers.
