Developing and Assessing Next Generation Community Policing Social Networks with THOR Methodology

Community Policing has been evolving slowly but steadily. This progression shaped the present Community Policing model which is more than two decades old. Nowadays, the concept of Next Generation Community Policing is introduced. Police forces are utilizing existing social networks to address safety and policing issues. As such, social networks are used to evolve existing Community Policing strategies, advance the collaboration between law enforcement and other community stakeholders and build trustworthy partnerships with citizens. At present, the police practice of using Social Networks to reach the communities they are serving is very popular and is gaining momentum. A growing number of police departments rely on social networks for public relations and notify the public of safety concerns. It therefore makes sense for the police to establish their own social network which will accommodate their practices and philosophy and will enhance the communication with the communities they serve. Despite the existence of a plethora of tools and applications available today, the development of a Social Network which is designed to meet police needs and to help in the evolution of Community Policing, is a very challenging task. This task requires, apart from a development effort, innovative ways of assessment, which will comply with an intricate Legal, Ethical, Societal framework governed by a complex Data Protection directive. Consequently, a holistic approach is required for analysing functions and capabilities addressing technical and human issues, which are inter-related with legal and ethical aspects. The THOR approach consists of four dimensions: Technical, Human, Organisational, and Regulatory and can be used to assess the efficiency of the developed social network. This paper presents research conducted under INSPEC 2 T ( I nspiring Citize NS P articipation for E nhanced C ommunity Poli C ing Ac T ions), a project funded by the European Commission’s research agenda to bridge the gap between Community Policing as a philosophy and as an organizational strategy, capitalising on the use of Social Media.