?There are major changes in investigation. Citizens mobilise each other and resolve issues through social media. ?Do-it-yourself policing? is changing tactical investigation radically.? This is the view of TNO researcher Arnout de Vries. ?The police and legal authorities can make far better use of this. That?s why I argue for a new balance between closed security organisations and the open networked society using social media to the fullest.?
?The critical mass has been reached. The adoption of social media is so widespread in the Netherlands that citizens are able to find and mobilise each other. This increases their influence and will change things. It has a positive effect, for example when it comes to cooperating with the police. But the negative side of this is that criminals can also find and mobilise each other. From TNO I help to channel the power and wisdom of the crowd in the right direction, and to make the world safer using social media. My motivation is to make everything better. Not just for myself, but for others. For my children, for example. They encounter online predators on Facebook, and receive contact requests from strangers. While I would protect them against this in the physical world, the internet breaks down all the existing structures and working methods. It requires public safety organisations to adopt an entirely different way of thinking and working.?
Do-it-yourself policing
?The Dutch police are world leaders in the use of social media. Nevertheless I notice that the police and legal authorities like to cling to the old trusted ways. Yet at the same time citizens are embracing social media and using it to the fullest to track down perpetrators. Many vigilant officers would prefer to prohibit this citizen investigation. But in practice I see that ?do-it-yourself police? is a game-changer for crime investigations. We don?t live in an era of continuous change, but in the change of an era. If the police don?t capitalise quickly on this evolution, they will outplay themselves. In the classic way of thinking, citizens still have to give way to the police when they arrive. But shortly these same citizens will take the lead in tactical investigations via social media. Together they have an enormous potential in collective intelligence and skills to resolve or prevent crimes. And that?s what they will do. With or without the police.?
Improving knowledge
?Social media are still relatively new. We don?t yet know how people behave online and how the police can capitalise on this. That?s why I work with technicians, behavioural and legal scientists to enhance such knowledge among the police and authorities. For example, TNO analyses the role of social media in incidents. In ?Project X? in Haren (when hundreds of youths turned up to the so-called Facebook party in response to a supposedly private invitation, and then rioted), the Mobile Police Unit was deployed, but there was little online involvement. And in the disappearance of the boys Ruben and Julian from Zeist, the police did indeed take control of the citizen search operations, but not over the online citizen initiatives. This cocreation process could be improved. Citizens like to help, and the police are indeed experimenting with this. I am assisting them, for example with a next generation for Burgernet (citizen-net), which uses ?the wisdom of the crowd? through communities and corporate networks.?
Take focused control
?A number of pioneers within the police understand this new era. One of them is Frank Smilda, police commisioner with the National Police Unit Noord-Nederland. Right back seven years ago he already had a virtual crime scene in Second Life, to involve citizens in the police network. That put him well ahead of his time. Our book, ?Social media: the new DNA?, is due to appear shortly. It shows how the detective and the amateur can strengthen each other with social media. The Sherlock Holmes of this era can do a lot for the police. Worldwide, many experts are available to the police. Far more than they could ever have in-house. The key is to make use of this. Citizens really do want to help. And sometimes they can do more than the police. Offer them a platform. And take control when needed and where citizens run up against their boundaries. Ultimately the police and legal authorities are needed to conclude a case and to apprehend perpetrators. I will continue to work towards striking this new balance.?