Research Brief
Principal
Investigator:
Jonah Lachapelle

Sponsor:
Janelle Shoihet

Instructor:
Marie Graf

Research Field:
Law Enforcement
and Public Safety

Program:
Bachelor Law
Enforcement Studies

Course:
LAWS 4003

The Use of Facebook by Police
RCMP Compared to Municipal Departments
Police agencies have begun using social media accounts as ways of
communicating with the public. Common messages that these police
agencies share on social media regard crime statistics, current crime reports
and investigations, updates during times of crisis and even just everyday
messages that show what the police are doing in the community.
I looked at how the federal police force of Canada, the RCMP, uses
Facebook when compared to the municipal departments in the province of
British Columbia. Unlike municipal departments, the RCMP is responsible
for policing a wide variety of municipalities throughout Canada. This forces
the RCMP to consider the needs of multiple municipalities when it comes to
their social media strategy.
I analyzed and categorized all the Facebook posts on the Facebook
pages of 11 municipal departments and 12 RCMP detachments for the
month of January 2018. Literature was also used to support my findings in
the data.
5 key findings were that on average municipal departments: 1) police
more people; 2) have a higher number of followers; 3) have a higher
percentage of their population following them; 4) create a higher amount of
posts and; 5) a higher percentage of their posts are directly related to the
community they police.
Key themes found in the literature supported the use of social media
by police and supported the findings of my research. Some departments have
stated that approximately 15% of cases were closed because of tips directly
from their social media posts. Social media also allows the police to display
the human side of the department, which can decrease the authoritarian view
of the police and increase public trust of the police.
While the RCMP may not have additional resources to allocate to
their social media pages, they may be able to direct the resources they
already have in the department towards a new strategy. Creating posts that
are more focused on the specific community they police may lead them to
see the same results found on the municipal Facebook pages.
Further studies should be done on the differences in social media
policy between the RCMP and municipal departments to see if those
differences lead to differences in the operation of their social media pages.
This study could also be expanded to cover multiple social media accounts
rather than just focusing on Facebook.

Research Brief
Structured Abstract
Introduction: Police agencies use social media for two main reasons: reaching out to the public, and to
disseminate information and manage public opinion (Ruddell, & Jones, 2013, p. 64). When the police use social
media the public perceives them as having greater community relations (Beshears, 2017), they tend to have
more trust in the police (Ruddell, & Jones, 2013), and the police are seen as more legitimate (Grimmelikhuijsen,
& Meijer, 2015). This research project looked at how the RCMP uses social media when compared to municipal
police departments in British Columbia, Canada. The RCMP provides policing services to a wide variety of
communities compared to municipal departments which only provide policing services to a specific community.
So, does this difference change how the different police forces use social media to engage with the community.
Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to collect data. Primary data was collected on the Facebook
pages of 11 municipal police departments and 12 RCMP detachments. All posts from the month of January
2018 were analyzed and categorized. Findings in the literature were used to support the findings in the primary
data and further emphasize the importance of the use of social media by police agencies.
Results/Findings: For the police Facebook pages analyzed on average RCMP detachments police 90,027
people while municipal departments police 115,192.91 people. The average number of followers for RCMP
Facebook pages was 2,235.27 and the average number of followers for municipal police Facebook pages was
6,859. On average 2.48% of the population followed RCMP pages while 5.95% of the population followed
municipal police pages. The average number of posts during the month of January on RCMP pages was 12.27
and the average number of posts on municipal police pages was 22. On average, 55.22% of the posts on RCMP
pages were specific to the community that detachment policed while 79.34% of posts on municipal police pages
were specific to their community. Posts specific to the community, as well as posts that show the human side of
the police department can increase the amount of trust the public has in the police force (Schneider, 2016;
Schneider, & Trottier, 2012).
Discussion: While the RCMP has a higher number of officers, those officers are spread out over a greater
number of communities. While the RCMP may not be able to allocate more resources into use of their social
media pages for their individual detachments, they may be able to change the strategies that those resources use
on social media. A much higher percent of posts from municipal police Facebook pages are specific to the
community they police. This may show an incentive by municipal departments to create more posts tailored to
the specific needs of their community. As shown in the literature this has the potential to build more trust with
the public.
Practical Applications: This study demonstrates several differences in how the RCMP uses Facebook when
compared to municipal police departments. This study can be used by police departments across the country to
examine how they use social media and tailor their strategies to the needs of their community,

References:
Beshears, M. L. (2017). Effectiveness of Police Social Media Use. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(3), 489-501.
doi:10.1007/s12103-0169380-4
Grimmelikhuijsen, S. G., & Meijer, A. J. (2015). Does Twitter increase perceived police legitimacy?. Public Administration Review, 75(4), 598-607.
doi:10.1111/puar.12378
Ruddell, R., & Jones, N. (2013). Social media and policing: matching the message to the audience. Safer Communities, (2), 64.
doi:10.1108/17578041311315030
Schneider, C. J. (2016). Police presentational strategies on Twitter in Canada. Policing and Society: An International Journal of Research and Policy,
26(2), 129-147. doi:10.1080/10439463.2014.922085
Schneider, C. J., & Trottier, D. (2012). The 2011 Vancouver Riot and the Role of Facebook in Crowd-Sourced Policing. BC Studies. (175), 57-72.