New Perspectives in Policing

National Institute of Justice

Executive Session on Policing and 

Public Safety

This is one in a series of papers that will be 

published as a result of the Executive Session on 

Policing and Public Safety. 

Harvard’s Executive Sessions are a convening 

of individuals of independent standing who take 

joint responsibility for rethinking and improving 

society’s responses to an issue. Members 

are selected based on their experiences, their 

reputation for thoughtfulness and their potential 

for helping to disseminate the work of the Session. 

In the early 1980s, an Executive Session on Policing 

helped resolve many law enforcement issues of 

the day. It produced a number of papers and 

concepts that revolutionized policing. Thirty 

years later, law enforcement has changed and 

NIJ and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government 

are again collaborating to help resolve law 

enforcement issues of the day. 

Learn more about the Executive Session on 

Policing and Public Safety at: 

www.NIJ.gov, keywords “Executive Session 

Policing”

www.hks.harvard.edu, keywords “Executive 

Session Policing”

Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston

Edward F. Davis III, Alejandro A. Alves and David Alan Sklansky

M ARCH 2014

Introduction

The Boston Police Department (BPD) has long 

embraced both community policing and the 

use of social media. The department put its 

experience to good and highly visible use in April 

2013 during the dramatic, rapidly developing 

investigation that followed the deadly explosion 

of two bombs at the finish line of the Boston 

Marathon. BPD successfully used Twitter to 

keep the public informed about the status of 

the investigation, to calm nerves and request 

assistance, to correct mistaken information 

reported by the press, and to ask for public 

restraint in the tweeting of information from 

police scanners. This demonstrated the level of 

trust and interaction that a department and a 

community can attain online. In the aftermath of 

the investigation, BPD was “applauded for leading 

an honest conversation with the public during a 

time of crisis in a way that no police department 

has done before.”1

In critical ways, BPD’s successful use of 

social media during the marathon bombing 

investigation relied on previous trust building 

by the department — including a longstanding, 

if more mundane, use of social media.2 This paper 
Cite this paper as: Davis, Edward F. III, Alejandro A. Alves and David Alan 

Sklansky, Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston. New 

Perspectives in Policing Bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 

National Institute of Justice, 2014. NCJ 244760.

2 | New Perspectives in Policing

discusses the lessons to be learned from BPD’s 

use of social media during the marathon bombing 

investigation and earlier. However, it is not strictly 

or even primarily a case study. It is an effort to 

contribute to a broader, ongoing discussion about 

police and social media. It is a reflection, in light 

of Boston’s experience, on the opportunities 

and challenges that social media present to the 

police and on the ways in which social media 

can help develop new models of policing that are 

adapted to our 21st-century world but rooted in 

traditions of community engagement stretching 

back through the community policing movement 

to Robert Peel’s 19th-century goals for a modern 

constabulary.

Police can learn some tips and tricks about 

social media from the corporate sector because 

businesses have already encountered some of 

the same challenges in this new environment 

that police departments are now facing. However, 

police departments are not corporations, 

businesses nor even run-of-the-mill government 

agencies; they have unique powers, unique 

responsibilities and a unique relationship to the 

public. Police need their own models, their own 

best practices, and their own discussions and 

philosophies about how to incorporate social 

media to achieve their distinct purposes.

This is especially true because the police may 

have distinct and natural advantages in this 

area, and the imperatives of social media 

coincide in important respects with the perennial 

imperatives of law enforcement. Social media are 

a means of communication and conversation, 

which have always been at the center of policing.3

Social media also draw upon communities and 

can help to build them; using social media is thus 

a way for police departments to take community 

policing into the networked age of Web 2.0.4 The 

promise of social media for policing is not to 

transform or add to the work of law enforcement 

but to emphasize the deep connection with 

the community that has always been the focus 

of good police work. Among the central tenets 

recognized by social media practitioners is 

that “to speak with a human voice, companies 

must share the concerns of their communities ...

but first, they must belong to a community.”5

That is a familiar, even foundational idea in law 

enforcement; it echoes Peel’s enduring principle 

that “the police are the public and the public are 

the police.”

More than 2,8006 law enforcement agencies in 

the U.S. have social media accounts, and that 

number is growing every day.7 This paper focuses 

more on social media as a tool for engaging with 

the community than on the use of social media 

as an investigative tool, a practice that raises 

distinct issues pertaining to privacy and the risk 

of damaging public trust.8 The two topics overlap, 

though, partly because an engaged community 

is itself an invaluable asset in an investigation 

and partly because the clumsy or irresponsible 

use of social media as an investigative tool can 

do immense damage to the public’s trust in and 

willingness to engage with the police.
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 3

Social Media and the Marathon Bombing 

At 2:49 p.m. on April 15, 2013 — Patriot’s Day, a 

public holiday in Massachusetts — two devices 

detonated in quick succession near the finish line 

of the Boston Marathon, causing three deaths and 

approximately 280 injuries. The bombings set off 

a weeklong series of events that gripped not only 

Boston but also the nation. The week’s social media 

milestones are cataloged here and are referenced 

in a discussion of lessons learned later in this paper. 

Immediate Response 

Boston police officers at the scene realized quickly 

that social media would play an important role in 

keeping the public informed about the explosions 

and their aftermath. En route to the scene of the 

bombing, police commissioner Davis instructed 

the Media Relations Office to prepare to use all 

forms of social media and to push accurate and 

complete information to the public. About 10 

minutes after the detonations, a BPD commander 

on the scene called for the use of social media to 

communicate to the public the steps the police 

were taking: “I need somebody up there to get on 

social media and let people know what we’re doing 

here.”9 Within an hour of the detonations, BPD sent 

a tweet confirming what had occurred: “Boston 

Police confirming explosion at marathon finish 

line with injuries.”10

In the ensuing hours, BPD used its official Twitter 

account to request public assistance;11 to keep 

the public and the media informed about road 

closures, news conferences, and police activities;12

to reassure the public and express sympathy to the 

victims and their families;13 and, crucially, within 

two hours of the explosions, to give the public 

accurate information about the casualty toll and the 

status of the investigation.14 BPD promptly alerted 

the media and the public that there had also been 

an incident at the John F. Kennedy Presidential 

Library; it sent another tweet half an hour later 

indicating that this incident appeared to be firerelated rather than a bombing.15 (By the next day, 

fire department investigators concluded that the 

fire had been caused unintentionally by “careless 

disposal of smoking material.”16) When the FBI took 

control of the marathon bombing investigation on 

the evening of April 16, BPD sent a tweet noting that 

fact17 but continued to keep the public informed via 

its Twitter feed and to correct erroneous reports 

sent by others. Shortly after sending the tweet about 

the FBI, BPD tweeted that three people had died 

from the blasts (correcting inflated fatality reports 

by some media sources) and that no suspect was 

in custody (in response to media speculation that 

a Saudi Arabian man had been arrested).18

All of the BPD tweets about the bombings on April 

15 were sent on the department’s official Twitter 

account, which was directly overseen by BPD’s 

public information bureau chief, lawyer and former 

television journalist Cheryl Fiandaca.19 Assisted by 

two sworn officers and three civilians, Fiandaca 

operated @bostonpolice as a 24-hour “digital hub” 

for information about the investigation over the 

next several days.20 She and her staff were briefed 

by commanders three to five times per day during 

this period.21 BPD tweets rapidly became the most 

trusted source of information about the status of the 
4 | New Perspectives in Policing

investigation and were often retweeted hundreds, 

thousands or tens of thousands of times.22

The day after the bombings, other BPD personnel 

also used Twitter to communicate with the 

public. One of the most active Tweet from the 

Beat accounts (by BPD deputy superintendent 

John Daley) posted information about street 

closures and took questions from other users 

about whether the police needed volunteers to 

answer phones, whether flowers could be placed 

at the site of the bombings, and how to submit 

pictures and videos as evidence.

False Leads and Real Leads 

In the days following the bombing, most of BPD’s 

social media activity occurred through its official 

accounts (overseen by Fiandaca and her staff). 

One of the most important uses was correcting 

the misinformation that was spread through both 

professional media and social networks. 

Early in the afternoon on April 17, CNN reported 

that an arrest had been made in the case.23

Within minutes, other media outlets echoed 

that report. Tweets by CNN and the Associated 

Press containing this report were retweeted more 

than 5,000 times.24 BPD responded promptly, also 

through Twitter, that no arrest had been made.25

CNN retracted its report almost immediately, and 

the BPD tweet was amplified by nearly 11,000 

retweets.26

The following day, after photographs and videos of 

the scene were rapidly circulated through social 

media, public networks began speculating based 

on those images. On April 18, possibly fueled 

by social media discussion and image sharing, 

the New York Post ran its “Bag Men” cover, 

which identified Salah Barhoum as a suspect 

in the case. This report was corrected later that 

afternoon, when the FBI released surveillance 

camera footage of the two individuals whom law 

enforcement actually considered to be suspects 

in the case. 

The FBI made its announcement in a formal 

press conference; minutes later, BPD again 

turned to social media, releasing a series of 

tweets containing videos and pictures of the two 

suspects. These posts were retweeted thousands 

of times each — far more than the department’s 

earlier, more open-ended requests for assistance.

The Public’s Own Investigation 

As information was being released online, both 

through official and unofficial channels, the 

social media audience was conducting its own 

“investigation” in parallel with law enforcement 

efforts.

As early as April 17 (and likely much earlier), 

online forums such as Reddit began independent 

efforts to identify the bombers, even before the 

FBI had singled out any images of potential 

suspects. These efforts were met with mixed 

reactions. At least one notable online news source 

was skeptical of the effort, and commenters 

worried about the possibility of racism and false 

information being perpetuated by Reddit users.27
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 5

Reddit users ramped up their efforts after official 

images of unnamed suspects were released. 

This led to the false identification of Sunil 

Tripathi, whose name first surfaced on Reddit 

sometime on the evening of April 18 for reasons 

that remain unclear. The rumor that Tripathi, a 

college student who had been missing for about 

a month at that time, was suspect #2 gained 

energy overnight.28 The information was widely 

retweeted (including by staff and reporters at 

CBS, Politico and BuzzFeed and by the “hacker 

collective” Anonymous, whose 3 a.m. tweet on 

April 19 sent the name to more than one million 

followers).29 The theory about Tripathi was refuted 

later the same morning, first by television news 

reports clarifying that he was not a suspect and 

later when BPD released the names of the true 

suspects.

Identifying and Pursuing the True Suspects

 At 4:02 a.m. on April 19, the BPD commissioner 

sent a tweet on his own Twitter account, which 

is distinct from the department’s account, 

noting that one of the two suspects had been 

killed and that the second was at large and 

dangerous.30 Ninety minutes later, at 5:34 a.m., 

the commissioner tweeted again to share a 

picture of the surviving suspect. At 8:24 a.m., BPD 

tweeted the suspect’s name: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. 

As the manhunt continued, and with hundreds 

of thousands of individuals listening to scanner 

feeds online, BPD asked the media (via Twitter) 

not to “compromise officer safet y/tactics 

by broadcasting live video of officers while 

approaching search locations.”31 By the time the 

second suspect was captured on the evening 

of April 19, BPD’s Twitter account had more 

than 300,000 followers, up from about 40,000 

prior to the week’s events. The official tweet 

reporting the suspect’s capture was retweeted 

more than 140,000 times. In the aftermath of the 

investigation, BPD was “applauded for leading an 

honest conversation with the public during a time 

of crisis in a way that no police department has 

done before.”32

A Presence on Multiple Platforms

Although Twitter updates were more rapid 

and seemingly captured more attention, 

the department also leveraged its already 

popular Facebook page to publish information 

and establish a connection with the public. 

Throughout the week, the official page published 

images of the suspects, license plate information 

to support a BOLO (“Be On The Lookout”), a 

map of the cordoned-off area in the immediate 

aftermath, maps directing the media to 

conferences and approved parking areas, and 

updates about public transit service interruptions 

related to the investigation. In the days that 

followed, BPD also used its Facebook page to 

memorialize the deceased victims and to send 

messages of condolence and support to survivors. 

Early postings of the suspects’ images were 

shared more than 6,500 times. The posting 

that garnered the most interaction (more than 

35,000 “likes”) was a message from media officer 

James Kenneally returning thanks to members 
6 | New Perspectives in Policing

of the public who had sent in encouraging and 

supportive correspondence: “We hear you. We 

thank you. God Bless you all.”33

Tweets From the Beat 

In late 2011, BPD began its Tweet from the Beat 

program to connect officers directly with the 

department’s social media audience. BPD 

had operated a Twitter account under the 

@bostonpolice handle since 2009; all tweets 

were sent by designated personnel in the Media 

Relations Office and Operations. The Tweet 

from the Beat program uses the GroupTweet 

application and allows authorized members of 

the command staff to post directly from their 

personal Twitter accounts to the BPD official 

Twitter account by using the #TweetfromtheBeat 

hashtag.34

The program was developed as an extension of 

BPD’s community policing activities. Members of 

the command staff (deputy police superintendent 

and above) set up individual Twitter accounts 

and were encouraged to post using t he 

#TweetfromtheBeat hashtag during their 

walking beats or in regard to other positive 

interactions with the community. 

Whereas BPD’s social media accounts had 

primarily been used to broadcast more traditional 

police communications (crime alerts, arrests, 

officer commendations and safety tips), the Tweet 

from the Beat program allows command staff to 

show a more personal presence within the city of 

Boston. Even when posted to the @bostonpolice 

feed, the GroupTweet application identifies the 

author of the message so that subscribers to 

the official BPD feed still know which officer 

shared the message. It also allows command 

staff to publicize positive interactions with the 

community that are important but would not be 

picked up by traditional news outlets. 

The subjects of #TweetfromtheBeat messages 

range from formal community meetings and 

events to humorous pictures and personal 

encouragement. 35 Tw it ter messages a re 

sometimes used to direct people to Facebook, 

YouTube or the BPD website, where more 

information is available. Likew ise, some 

Facebook and YouTube postings encourage 

citizens to connect with the BPD Twitter account. 

Despite the range of topics, command staff 

have used the program judiciously, using their 

personal accounts for replies that are of less 

general interest.36 Although #TweetfromtheBeat 

messages have received fewer retweets, favorites 

and replies than other items within BPD’s Twitter 

feed, they are still (at least in theory) reaching the 

same broad audience. Moreover, the tweeted 

photo or message demonstrates the officer’s 

active interest in the community, in the true spirit 

of community policing.

Characteristics of Social Media 

What lessons can be drawn from BPD’s use 

of social media both before and during the 

marathon bombing investigation? Perhaps the 

most important lesson concerns the implications 

of new communication technologies for the 

traditional goals and concerns of the police. 
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 7

Law enforcement should not be defined by the 

tools it uses but rather by the values it embraces 

and seeks to promote. New tools, such as social 

media, should be applied in ways that further 

the longstanding mission of the police and that 

incorporate the lessons learned in the late 20th 

century about the importance of partnering 

with the community. In other words, while the 

use of social media creates new capabilities 

and possibilities for the police, law enforcement 

agencies should make sure they are shaping the 

tools rather than the other way around. Effective 

use means respecting the characteristics of social 

media but using them in ways that are adapted to 

the traditions and goals of community policing.

At the same time, incorporating social media 

into the police mission is not simply about 

extending current thinking with a new tool. In 

some ways, social media are indeed platforms for 

communication, to be used in ways that best suit 

policing. However, social media have their own 

logic, norms and culture, and the police need 

to understand and respect the nature of social 

media if they are to use them effectively.

Fortunately, some of the most important 

characteristics of social media are entirely 

compatible with the best traditions of policing. 

In fact, the new networking capabilities provided 

by social media allow the police to rethink how 

they communicate with the public. The essential 

characteristics of social media offer possibilities 

for law enforcement agencies to return to and 

deepen their commitment to the ideas at the 

heart of community policing — rethinking what 

the police want to get across to the community, 

how the police should listen to the community, 

and how the police and the community can work 

together in pursuit of their common objectives.

Social media have three sets of characteristics 

with important implications for law enforcement: 

scope, structure and tone. The scope of social 

media is staggering and is continually growing. 

In 2010, almost half of all adults in the United 

States were using social networking sites such 

as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn. At 

that time, 59 percent of all Americans who used 

the Internet were using social media.37 By 2012, 

67 percent of Internet users were using social 

media.38 From 2011 to 2012, the amount of time 

Americans spent on social media increased by 37 

percent, from 88.4 billion minutes to 121.1 billion 

minutes.39

This is not simply a matter of how Americans 

spend their leisure time: more than half of all 

people ages 25 to 34 are now using social media 

at work.40 Nor is it only about youth: although 

younger Americans still tend to be the most active 

online, social media sites are no longer gathering 

places for teenagers and young adults exclusively. 

The average age of social media users is gradually 

increasing, and the age profile of social media 

users now aligns more closely with the general 

population.41 In 2012, for the first time, more than 

half of Americans older than 65 were regular 

users of the Internet.42

Equally important is the structure of social 

media. Social media are essentially networks in 
8 | New Perspectives in Policing

which each user can serve both as a recipient and 

a source of information. This means that social 

media can give the police an opportunity to have 

a two-way conversation with the community. 

More than that, it means that when the police use 

social media, they join — for better or worse — 

an ongoing, multidirectional conversation that 

can have hundreds or thousands of participants 

at any given time. When police converse with an 

individual online, many other members of the 

public can see that interaction. If the interaction 

is positive, observers benefit from the information 

transmitted, and police also can benefit from 

increased awareness of their services and from 

the public’s recognition of their willingness to 

engage in conversation. Moreover, the networked 

nature of social media means that information 

can be transmitted, and updated, very rapidly.

The conversation that takes place on social media 

also tends to have a distinctive tone: informal, 

conversational, sometimes humorous and 

quite distinct from traditional press releases or 

marketing messages. Corporate messaging on 

social media fails when it neglects to conform 

to that tone. Traditional advertising and public 

relations often fall flat on social media, precisely 

because they are “not funny ... not interesting ... 

[and] only wants us to buy.”43 Police departments, 

with their ingrained, bureaucratic approach 

to public relations, can easily make a similar 

mistake when attempting to use social media. 

On the other hand, police departments — 

particularly line officers — have a lot of practice 

talking with the public directly and informally, 

and the community policing movement did 

much to refocus attention on the importance of 

this kind of communication. Therefore, the tone 

of social media may come more naturally to the 

police than to corporations.

Because of their distinctive characteristics, social 

media provide the police with two different 

opportunities — the power of publication and 

the power of conversation — and certain distinct 

and natural advantages within each of these 

opportunities. The first is more obvious and is 

easier to pursue, but ultimately the second is 

more important and more potentially rewarding. 

In addition to these opportunities, the special 

characteristics of social media also present 

some special challenges for the police. These 

challenges will be discussed later in this paper.

The Power of Publication 

The scope and speed of social media make them 

a highly attractive way for police departments to 

get information to the public. This is the power 

of publication. It is the opportunity to expand 

communication beyond the traditional press 

release model and to send a message without 

using the press as an intermediary. Using social 

media, the police can deliver information in a 

nonsensational and expedited way.

This can include information not traditionally 

reported by commercial news operations. 

BPD, like many police departments, was long 

frustrated by the failure of traditional media 

to report on the day-to-day work of the police 

outside of the spotlight: identifying problems, 

crafting solutions and responding to calls for 
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 9

assistance. Social media provide a way for the 

police to pass along information directly to the 

public. The Tweet from the Beat program has 

allowed BPD to inform citizens in a direct way 

about the day-to-day activities of its officers.

The marathon bombing investigation highlighted 

a different, but equally important, way that 

police using social media can take advantage of 

the power of publication. Social media can help 

the police ensure that the public has accurate, 

timely and balanced information about highvisibility criminal investigations. Years ago, 

moving a public statement on a major incident 

such as a homicide was significantly timeintensive, requiring interoffice memos as well as 

the writing and screening of statements. It took 

time not only to approve the statement to ensure 

uniformity and strength in messaging, but also to 

deal with the logistics of getting the information 

distributed to and published by reporters. Today 

this process can be abbreviated: The use of social 

media allows the police to push information to 

the public directly and instantaneously.

Coordination still takes place, but electronic 

communication allows even that process to be 

much faster. During the pursuit of the marathon 

bombing suspects, BPD and the Massachusetts 

State Police were able to coordinate very quickly 

to release updated images of one of the suspects. 

The BPD commissioner was able, with three clicks 

of a mouse, to distribute to the public the same 

image that the State Police sent on its own social 

media accounts. This happened without a formal 

press statement or scheduled press conference.

Embracing this opportunity to broadcast widely 

and instantaneously requires a significant 

cultural shift for many law enforcement agencies. 

In many ways, law enforcement communications 

in recent times have been characterized by efforts 

to control rather than distribute information. 

However, any hesitation to be more open and 

prompt in releasing information should be 

tempered by the fact that police information 

will be broadcast rapidly on public media 

regardless of whether the police choose to do the 

broadcasting themselves. Every major newspaper 

and television or radio news department now has 

social media accounts, and — as the marathon 

bombing investigation highlighted — many users 

of social media post information they obtain from 

police scanners, observe at a scene or fabricate 

themselves. If the police do not use social 

media, they risk having information about their 

activities distorted, sensationalized or circulated 

irresponsibly. 

The social media audience will not patiently wait 

for information to be released through official 

channels. If the police are not on social media, 

someone else will shape the way that information 

from the police is presented on social media. On 

the other hand, if police do provide information 

through social media — and if they have worked 

to maintain the community’s trust — the police 

can play a powerful role in shaping the story. 

In Boston, long before the marathon bombings, 

the department found that when it issued press 

releases on Twitter and Facebook, reports by local 

newspapers and commercial broadcasters relied 
10 | New Perspectives in Policing

heavily on those releases, both for content and 

for tone. 

One of the lessons of the marathon bombing 

investigation is that a police department that has 

worked to earn the public’s trust can use social 

media to disseminate information directly to 

the public without the traditional intermediary 

of commercial news operations. This is the power 

of publishing: the ability of the police, with 

reasonable effort, to be the source for accurate, 

timely information that seizes the public’s 

attention and contributes to public awareness 

and understanding in critical ways.

Advantages of publication. In employing social 

media for the power of publication, police have 

two notable advantages over traditional media 

channels. 

The first advantage is that police control much 

of the information in which the public is most 

interested. The American public is turning 

more and more to social media for their news. 

For people younger than 40, the Internet is 

often the main source of information.44 More 

importantly, the nature of the information people 

are interested in overlaps significantly with areas 

in which police are routinely involved. Breaking 

news, crime, community events and traffic 

information are among the local news topics 

that most interest the public.45 Police, by virtue 

of their day-to-day activities and responsibilities, 

have much of this information, and at a level of 

detail and understanding much greater than the 

commercial media. 

This is particularly true because of the geography 

of police work. Patrol officers, detectives and 

neighborhood liaison officers often spend their 

time in troubled parts of the community: places 

that many members of the public are greatly 

interested in but rarely, if ever, enter. In this 

respect, as in others, the normal, day-to-day 

operations of the police put them in a position to 

provide nuanced, ground-level information on 

subjects of great public interest. 

The second advantage to police flows naturally 

from the first: Police have more time to process 

and publish information on social media without 

losing the public’s attention. That is, police do not 

need to be the first to “break” a story in order to 

capture the most attention. 

Speed can be important when releasing 

information on social media. In the absence of 

information from a reliable source, inaccurate 

or misleading information can circulate rapidly 

on social media. However, because the police 

department is the source of information, it 

maintains an advantage in reliability and trust — 

assuming, again, it has worked over the years to 

maintain the community’s trust. Commercial 

media outlets, under pressure for ratings, often 

move extremely rapidly in an effort to be the 

first to break a story. A police department that 

has earned the public’s confidence must still 

move swiftly with information, but is afforded a 

reasonable amount of time to shape and verify 

information before releasing it and will still have 

the upper hand in shaping the story.
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 11

During the marathon bombing investigation, 

t rad it iona l news med ia, facing intense 

competitive pressures, made significant errors.46

Using social media, the police were able to correct 

the mistaken reports quickly and convincingly. 

CNN erroneously tweeted that an arrest had been 

made early in the investigation, and that report 

saw about 1,400 retweets. About 20 minutes 

later, a police tweet with accurate information — 

“there has not been an arrest” — had nearly 11,000 

retweets in a matter of minutes.

Later, when an arrest was actually made, 

commercial news outlets again took to Twitter 

with the report. A local news network in New 

England had about 150 retweets of the message. 

CNN’s tweet of the same information had about 

2,000 retweets. The impact of those reports seems 

minuscule compared to the 140,000 retweets of 

BPD’s original posting.47 By the time the surviving 

suspect was arrested, it was clear that the public 

was listening much more intently to police 

accounts than to the commercial news media, 

regardless of who broke the story first.

The Power of Conversation 

Publishing can be extremely powerful, but it only 

works in one direction. Social media work in two, 

three, or a thousand directions at once. The power 

of publication is only part of what social media 

can do for policing — and it is the lesser part. The 

more important part is the power of conversation. 

Social media are about conversation, and 

the social media audience is sensitive to any 

interactions that do not feel genuine.

When BPD began using Twitter, it saw social 

media as a way to send out press releases so 

that the public received the information at the 

same time as news organizations. In other 

words, BPD saw Twitter simply in terms of the 

power of publication — a means for broadcasting 

information widely and rapidly. 

However, the department quickly learned 

that social media are networked forms of 

communication. Members of the public react 

to the information they receive, provide rapid 

feedback, and add their own thoughts and 

impressions to messages available to others. 

The dissemination of information in this way is 

distinct from simply broadcasting.

Social media’s potential benefits to policing go 

far beyond the ability to notify and to broadcast. 

Social media allow police to engage in open 

dialogue with the communities they serve in an 

instantaneous, networked manner. Social media 

also allow departments to build relationships 

with the public that provide benefits — not only in 

a crisis such as the marathon bombings but also 

in the day-to-day work of fighting crime, reducing 

fear and improving the quality of life.

Social media should not be used primarily as an 

exercise in public relations but as an extension 

of community policing. They can enhance and 

build on community policing principles, allowing 

police to reach and engage people who do not 

attend community meetings or other traditional 

venues through which police have sought to 

listen to and partner with the community. They 
12 | New Perspectives in Policing

can allow police to interact with citizens much 

more rapidly than was previously possible, and 

they can offer both police officers and citizens the 

opportunity to join in ongoing conversations not 

limited by physical location. 

One of the key lessons of community policing is 

that effective partnership with the community 

requires the police not only to talk but also to 

listen, and social media offer the police such 

a platform. During the Occupy protests, for 

example, BPD used social media to monitor and 

engage with protesters so police could gauge 

the crowd’s intent and adjust tactics in real time. 

More importantly, police officers were able to 

engage in dialogue with the protesters. Social 

media allowed officers to address protesters in a 

direct and personal way that would be impossible 

through news media. They allowed police 

to communicate with the public about their 

intentions and to assure protesters that police 

would seek to relocate the protest rather than end 

it. Social media also allowed the police to listen, 

and to be seen as listening, to the concerns of 

protesters and the public throughout the process. 

Advantages of conversation. In this area, police 

enjoy certain natural advantages. As with 

publication, making full use of these advantages 

may require shifts in police culture, but these 

shifts may also be seen as a return to fundamental 

principles rather than the adoption of new norms.

The first natural advantage, one that is not yet 

fully realized, is that police can adopt a much 

more genuine tone of engagement. As noted 

earlier, social media public relations efforts 

can easily fall flat if they do not sound genuine 

or sincere. This is a significant challenge for 

corporate marketing. Efforts of that nature must, 

by definition, have an agenda that goes beyond 

sincere relationship building — the goal is to sell 

a product. The underlying motive of profit is everpresent, always preventing genuine conversation.

Police, on the other hand, “don’t have to sound 

like [they] are trying to sell me something, 

because unlike so many other entities on social 

media today, [they] actually aren’t.”48 Policing is 

(or should be) rooted in public service. The end is 

not about securing revenue but rather providing a 

service to society, although often the police seek 

to provide that service in part through influencing 

public behavior. This creates the opportunity for 

dialogue that is more about sincerity than about 

marketing spin.

This is, however, an opportunity that may be 

overlooked by parts of law enforcement today. 

Sincere relationship building is a foundation of 

community policing. Yet many law enforcement 

agencies have adopted a culture of silence 

and have overly guarded information, which 

forces an unnaturally bureaucratic tone to 

communications through any media. Police 

leaders at times recognize that this is not best 

suited to true community partnership. Hence 

the important advantage in building genuine 

engagement. 

A corporate entity that tries to take on a genuine, 

human tone finds itself out of its element. A police 
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 13

department that does the same may find it is, in 

fact, shedding a burden that conflicts with the 

foundations of the profession. Law enforcement 

leaders should recognize this opportunity to 

lower some of the walls that inhibit genuine 

dialogue.

The second advantage, once again flowing from 

the first, is that police departments (particularly 

those that already embrace the principles 

of community policing) may find it easier to 

determine what they want to gain from social 

media engagement and how to measure it. 

Even as police move into a networked age, their 

activities will still be derived from a basic core 

mission — one that already includes elements of 

engagement, information, communication and 

public cooperation. This was true even after the 

marathon bombings and is evidenced by how 

quickly the call came out from leadership at the 

scene to begin using social media to inform the 

public.49

Learning to measure success on social media 

will be a major challenge and is discussed 

in the following section. However, police 

may adapt more naturally than corporate or 

commercial entities. Those organizations will 

struggle to adapt return on investment, addedvalue measures, click-through rates and other 

marketing techniques that may prove ill-suited 

to sincere engagement. Police, on the other hand, 

may find metrics derived from a core mission that 

already includes public engagement and, with 

some effort, conform them to social media.

Challenges for the Police in Using 

Social Media 

A lt houg h socia l med ia of fer i mpor ta nt 

opportunities to the police, taking advantage 

of such opportunities will also present the 

police with significant challenges. This section 

discusses one of these challenges in detail —

one that arose during the marathon bombing 

investigation — and briefly mentions four others.

Monitoring and Managing Public Information

Because of the networked nature of social media, 

any information the police release through this 

means can quickly be reshaped or put to new uses 

by anyone participating in the network. This is the 

flipside of the ability that social media give the 

police to speak directly to the public. Social media 

can operate like an amplified, multidirectional 

version of the old game of “telephone” to produce 

distorted information, a fact that police must 

keep in mind. The misidentification of Sunil 

Tripathi as a suspect in the marathon bombing 

illustrated this danger.50 

This presents an interesting dilemma — both a 

hazard to be aware of when releasing information 

and a powerful and untapped opportunity. The 

hazard comes in the form of information being 

misused and distorted through public sleuthing. 

The opportunity lies in the potential to leverage 

social media to enlist public assistance in a police 

investigation, or indeed in any police operation. 

The police have long used wanted posters, public 

alerts and traditional news channels to get the 
14 | New Perspectives in Policing

public involved in criminal investigations —

but only when and to the extent that the police 

thought public involvement would be helpful. 

Social media offer the police new and powerful 

ways to enlist the public’s assistance, but they are 

also far more challenging to manage. The police 

cannot shut down social media discussions 

of fast-moving investigations, nor should they 

want to do so even if they could. However, the 

police need to be aware of how the public may 

use the information they release; in appropriate 

cases, the police may need to intervene to correct 

false, misleading or irresponsible use of the 

information they have provided.

Tone

 In many ways, the informal tone of social media 

is well-suited to bringing community policing 

into the 21st century. Using social media, police 

can speak with the public casually — but 

not unprofessionally — in a way that invites 

cooperative dialogue across a broad section of 

the community, including young adults who 

may not have engaged meaningfully with the 

police in the past. Over the years, however, many 

police departments have grown accustomed to 

bureaucratic ways of speaking, both internally 

and in communications with the public. Effective 

use of social media will require breaking those 

habits.

Careful use of humor can be an important and 

effective way to set the right tone. When BPD’s 

website was attacked by the “hacktivist” group 

Anonymous, for example, the department 

released a widely praised, satirical video51 on 

YouTube that made light of the situation — while 

at the same time underscoring the department’s 

commitment to keeping lines of communication 

with the community open and publicizing the 

many channels through which the public could 

access information from the department, even 

when the website was down.52 Within days, the 

video had been viewed more than 150,000 times.53

Similarly, the Toronto Police Service was mocked 

on Twitter with a photograph of an unauthorized 

sign warning motorists about an upcoming 

speed trap. Instead of responding with anger 

or by threatening arrest, as might have been 

the response elsewhere,54 the department took 

the matter in stride, retweeting the image and 

commenting “That’s a win for us. People will slow 

down!”55

Internal Coordination and Control

Social media allow both individuals and 

organizations to contribute content. Police 

departments need to consider not only their use 

of social media as organizations but also the use 

of individual social media accounts maintained 

by line officers, supervisors and command staff.

In Boston, a trained communications manager 

oversaw the police department’s Twitter and 

Facebook activity throughout the marathon 

bombing investigation. To keep accurate and 

relevant information flowing smoothly, the Media 

Relations Office had great leeway in deciding 

what to publish as well as a high degree of access 

to the command teams of the agencies involved.
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 15

As part of BPD’s Tweet from the Beat program, the 

department’s superintendents have their own 

Twitter accounts. However, in the days following 

the marathon bombings, a deliberate decision 

was made to silence those accounts so that the 

department would be speaking with one voice.

The BPD commissioner maintains his own Twitter 

account. This account sees less traffic than the 

department’s official Twitter feed; however, the 

public interacts more with this account than 

with the department’s because of its pseudopersonal nature. During the marathon bombing 

investigation, it was used for some of the most 

critical messages, including disseminating the 

photographs of the suspect at large. 

Social media accounts maintained by line officers 

raise 21st-century versions of longstanding 

questions about maintaining the image and 

integrity of the police while allowing officers 

to have personal lives. A growing number of 

departments have promulgated rules regarding 

how officers should present themselves in social 

media.56

Measuring What Matters

Social media are easily measured — maybe too 

easily. At the end of the day, a user has a concise 

tally of followers and retweets, fans and “likes,” 

views and subscribers, and total impressions 

made that day. It is simple to compare the 

numbers compiled by different departments.57 It 

can be tempting to build a social media strategy 

that focuses on numbers alone and that judges its 

success solely in terms of these numbers.

This strategy should be avoided. If social media 

are seen — as they should be seen — as a way 

for police to extend their efforts at community 

policing, it should be clear that simple statistics 

quantifying the amount of contact with the 

community and crudely measuring public 

response can tell the police only so much. Tallies 

of retweets, followers, views and subscribers are 

measures of process, not outcomes, and one 

of the most important lessons of community 

policing is to focus on outcomes — improvements 

in community safety, confidence and vibrancy — 

not simply or even primarily on process.58

Ultimately, the question should not be how 

extensively, visibly or artfully the police use social 

media; the question should be how effectively the 

police are making use of social media, and all of 

the other tools at their disposal, to improve the 

lives of the people they serve.

Endnotes 

1. Bindley, Katherine, “Boston Police Twitter: 

How Cop Team Tweets Led City from Terror to 

Joy,” Huffington Post, April 26, 2013, http://www.

huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/boston-policetwitter-marathon_n_3157472.html.

2. See Bar-tur, Yael, “Boston Police Schooled 

Us All on Social Media,” Mashable, April 22,

2013, ht t p://ma shable.com/2013/0 4/22/

boston-police-social-media.

3. See, for example, Manning, Peter K., The 

Technolog y of Policing: Crime Mapping , 

Information Technology, and the Rationality 

of Crime Control, New York: NYU Press, 2011; 
16 | New Perspectives in Policing

Miller, Susan L., Gender and Community Policing: 

Walking the Talk, Boston: Northeastern University 

Press, 1999; and Muir, William Ker Jr., Police: 

Streetcorner Politicians, Chicago: University of 

Chicago Press, 1979. 

4. “Web 2.0” is a term commonly used to describe 

changes in the way information moves on the 

Internet. It has moved away from the staticdisplay Web pages of the early Internet toward 

platforms for rapidly updated, user-generated 

content such as social media, blogs and video 

sharing. For more information, see, for example, 

O’Reilly, Tim, “What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns 

and Business Models for the Next Generation 

of Software,” http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/

what-is-web-20.html.

5. See Levine, Rick, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, 

and David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto: 

The End of Business as Usual, Cambridge, MA: 

Basic Books, 2009, p. xvi. 

6. Numbers throughout this paper that represent 

certain online metrics, such as the number of 

likes, shares or retweets received, or the number 

of agencies present on social media, may change 

frequently and are accurate as of December 2013.

7. See IACP Center for Social Media Directory, 

http://www.iacpsocialmedia.org/Directory.aspx. 

8. See, for example, Lee, David, and Shane Witnov, 

Handbook on Conducting Research on SocialNetworking Websites in California, Berkeley, 

CA: University of California, Berkeley, School 

of Law, Samuelson Law, Technology & Public 

Policy Clinic, 2008, http://www.law.berkeley.

edu/files/Social_Networking_Website_ResearchHandbook.pdf. 

9. See Jasper, Todd, “Boston Police Commander: I 

need somebody up there to get on social media ... ,”

Blog post, April 17, 2013, http://toddjasper.

com/2013/04/17/boston-police-commanderi-need-somebody-up-there-to-get-on-socialmedia.

10. Boston Police Dept. [@bostonpolice]. 

(2013, April 15). Boston Police confirming 

explosion at marathon finish line with injuries: 

#tweetfromthebeat via @CherylFiandaca [Tweet]. 

Retrieved from https://twitter.com/bostonpolice/

status/323883302899564544.

11. For example, “Please clear area around 

marathon finish line,” “Boston Police looking 

for video of the finish line,” “BPD asking for 

tips,” “BPD asking people not to congregate in 

large crowds,” “Community members wanting 

2 assist this investigation anonymously can call 

the BPD’s Crime Stoppers Tip Line @ 1 (800) 494-

TIPS,” “BPD asking people to be on heightened 

state of alert,” “MEDIA ADVISORY: The BPD is 

directing media outlets to park live trucks on 

Arlington St between Beacon & Boylston Streets.”

12. For example, “News conference in 15 minutes 

Westin Hotel,” “Police stabilizing situation —

checking packages,” “Area around crime scene 

will be closed for the foreseeable future,” “Family 

members looking for info relative to individuals 
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 17

injured during the incident are encouraged to call 

(617) 635-4500.”

13. For example, “Commissioner Davis: ‘I offer 

my sympathies to the families impacted by 

this horrible tragedy. Those responsible will be 

brought to justice.’” “Commissioner Davis: ‘The 

BPD is on high alert. All sworn personnel working 

around the clock. 12 hour shifts in effect. Days off 

cancelled.’”

14. Boston Police Dept. [@bostonpolice]. 

(2013, April 15). Update 23 injuries 2 dead: 

#tweetfromthebeat via @CherylFiandaca [Tweet]. 

Retrieved from https://twitter.com/bostonpolice/

status/323890086792019968.

15. Boston Police Dept. [@bostonpolice]. (2013, 

April 15). Update JFK incident appears to be fire 

related: #tweetfromthebeat via @CherylFiandaca 

[Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/

bostonpolice/status/323909232195944449.

16. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and 

Museum, News release, Statement on Conclusion 

of Fire Investigation at the JFK Library, http://

www.jfklibrary.org/About-Us/News-and-Press/

Press-Releases/Statement-on-Conclusion-ofFire-Investigation-at-the-JFK-Library.aspx.

17. Boston Police Dept. [@bostonpolice]. (2013, 

April 15). FBI has taken over the investigation: 

#tweetfromthebeat via @CherylFiandaca [Tweet]. 

Retrieved from https://twitter.com/bostonpolice/

status/323960515296628736.

18. See, for example, Wemple, Erik, “New York 

Post: 12 still dead in bombings that killed at 

least 3,” Washington Post, April 16, 2013, http://

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/

wp/2013/04/16/new-york-post-12-still-dead-inbombings-that-killed-at-least-3/.

19. See note 1.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid. 

23. CNN [@CNN]. (2013, April 17). Suspect 

arrested in Boston terror attack, source says 

[Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/CNN/

status/324582648624328704.

24. The Associated Press [@AP]. (2013, April 17). 

BREAKING: Law enforcement official: Boston 

Marathon bomb suspect in custody, expected in 

federal court. –BW [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://

twitter.com/AP/status/324583755350147072.

25. Boston Police Dept. [@bostonpolice]. (2013, 

April 17). Despite reports to the contrary there has 

not been an arrest in the Marathon attack [Tweet]. 

Retrieved from https://twitter.com/bostonpolice/

status/324591574807891968.

26. CNN Breaking News [@cnnbrk]. (2013, 

April 17). DOJ and Boston PD: No arrest has 

been made in #Boston bombings [Tweet]. 

Retrieved from https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/

status/324593940223385600.
18 | New Perspectives in Policing

27. See Fitzpatrick, Alex, “Reddit Scours Photos in 

Search of Boston Bombing Suspects,” Mashable, 

April 17, 2013, http://mashable.com/2013/04/17/

reddit-finding-boston-bomber. 

28. See, for example, “How Reddit and Twitter 

got it wrong and made life worse for a missing 

k id’s family,” http://w w w.unlikely words.

com/2013/04/19/how-reddit-and-twitter-got-itwrong-and-made-life-worse-for-a-missing-kidsfamily.

29. See Madrigal, Alexis, “It Wasn’t Sunil 

Tripathi: The Anatomy of a Misinformation 

Disaster,” The Atlantic, Apr i l 19, 2013, 

ht t p://w w w.t heat la nt ic.com/technolog y/

archive/2013/04/-bostonbombing-the-anatomyof-a-misinformation-disaster/275155/. The 

same tweet also misidentified Mike Mulugeta 

as suspect #1 based on a misunderstanding of a 

police radio broadcast. See Ibid.

30. Edward Davis [@EdDavis3]. (2013, April 19). 

One suspect dead. One at large. Armed and 

dangerous. White hat suspect at large. [Tweet]. 

Retrieved from https://twitter.com/EdDavis3/

status/325157562955751424.

31. Boston Police Dept. [@bostonpolice]. 

(2013, April 19). #MediaAlert: WARNING – Do 

Not Compromise Officer Safety/Tactics by 

Broadcasting Live Video of Officers While 

Approach i ng Sea rch L ocat ions [Tweet]. 

Retrieved from https://twitter.com/bostonpolice/

status/325296472117620736.

32. See note 1.

33. Boston Police Department (Official). (2013, 

April 16). To all those who have offered words 

of strength, encouragement and support, we 

at the Boston Police Department would like to 

gratefully and humbly state, “We hear you. We 

thank you. God Bless you all.” [Facebook status 

update]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.

com/photo.php?fbid=10151424493832685.

3 4. See Cra f t, R ya n, “Tw it ter for L aw 

Enforcement: How @Boston_Police is using 

GroupTweet & Twitter,” GroupTweet Blog, 

April 17, 2013, http://grouptweet.com/blog/

twitter-tip-how-boston_police-and-other-lawenforcement-agencies-are-using-grouptweet. 

35. For example, “Roxbury Presbyterian Urban 

Earth Day,” “Quincy school students perform 

at city council chamber,” “Jamie Kenneally and 

I at the promotion today with ‘Boston’s Finest,’” 

“I might have to transfer some taller guys into 

the gang unit” (with a picture of a basketball 

game), and “Snowy shout-out to you Fantastic 

Bostonians. You guys have been great!! Thank 

You!”

36. For example, deputy superintendent John 

Daley frequently entertains public concerns 

and criticisms under his individual handle, 

@deputyDALEY. 

37. See Hampton, Keith, Lauren Sessions 

Goulet, Lee Rainie, and Kristen Purcell, Social 
Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston | 19

Networking Sites and Our Lives, Washington, DC: 

Pew Internet & American Life Project, June 16, 

2011, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/

Technology-and-social-networks.aspx. 

38. See Duggan, Maeve, and Joanna Brenner, 

The Demographics of Social Media Users – 2012, 

Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life 

Project, Feb. 14, 2013, http://www.pewinternet.

org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users.aspx.

39. The Nielsen Company, State of the Media: The 

Social Media Report 2012, p. 6.

40. Ibid., p. 11.

41. See note 37, and as compared to available 

census data.

42. See Zickuhr, Kathryn, and Mary Madden, 

Older Adults and Internet Use, Washington, DC: 

Pew Internet & American Life Project, June 6, 

2012, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/

Older-adults-and-internet-use.aspx.

43. See note 5, p. 159.

44. See Rosenstiel, Tom, Amy Mitchell, Kristen 

Purcell, and Lee Rainie, How People Learn 

About Their Local Community, Washington, DC: 

Pew Internet & American Life Project, Sept. 26, 

2011, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/

Local-news.aspx.

45. Ibid.

46. See Carter, Bill, “The F.B.I. Criticizes the 

News Media After Several Mistaken Reports of 

an Arrest,” New York Times, April 17, 2011, http://

www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/business/media/

fbi-criticizes-false-reports-of-a-bombing-arrest.

html.

47. Boston Police Dept. [@bostonpolice]. (2013, 

April 19). CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The 

search is done. The terror is over. And justice 

has won. Suspect in custody. [Tweet]. Retrieved 

f rom ht t ps://t w it ter.com/ bostonpol ice/

status/325413032110989313. 

48. See Alves, Alejandro, and Yael Bar-tur, “Social 

Media for Cops,” American Police Beat, http://

www.apbweb.com/featured-articles/2310-socialmedia-for-cops.html.

49. See note 9.

50. See note 29 and Kang, Jay Caspian, “Should 

Reddit Be Blamed for the Spreading of a Smear?,” 

New York Times Magazine, July 28, 2013, p. 36.

51. S e e “ T h e B o s t o n P o l i c e V i r t u a l 

Com mu n it y,” ht t p://w w w.yout ube.com/

watch?v=ILhiW76B3H8.

52. See, for example, Condliffe, Jamie, “Boston 

Police Department’s Response to Anonymous is 

Hilarious,” Gizmodo, Feb. 13, 2012, http://gizmodo.

com/5884549/boston-police-departmentsresponse-to-anonymous-is-hilarious; and 

Murphy, David, “Video: Boston Police Fight 
20 | New Perspectives in Policing

Anonymous Hack With Sarcasm,” PCMag.

com, Feb. 12, 2012, http://www.pcmag.com/

article2/0,2817,2400160,00.asp.

53. See video statistics at http://www.youtube.

com/watch?v=ILhiW76B3H8.

54. See, for example, Harish, Alon, “Texas Woman 

Arrested for Warning Drivers About Speed Trap,” 

ABC News, June 28, 2012, http://abcnews.go.com/

US/story?id=16670386.

55. Modified from the original tweet, which is no 

longer available publicly due to the length of time 

that has elapsed since the original posting.

56. See, for example, Goodman, J. David, and 

Wendy Ruderman, “Police Dept. Sets Rules 

for Officers’ Use of Social Media,” New York 

Times, March 28, 2013, http://www.nytimes.

com/2013/03/29/nyregion/new-york-police-deptissues-guidelines-for-social-media.html?_r=0. 

57. See, for example, IACP Center for Social Media, 

“U.S. Law Enforcement Agencies with the Most 

Facebook ‘Likes,’” http://www.iacpsocialmedia.

org/Directory/AgencyFacebookStatistics.aspx.

58. See, for example, Kelling, George, “Measuring 

What Matters: A New Way of Thinking About 

Crime and Public Order,” in Measuring What 

Matters: Proceedings from the Policing Research 

Institute Meetings, Washington, DC: U.S. 

Department of Justice, National Institute of 

Justice, 1999.

Author Note 

Edward F. Davis III was the commissioner of the 

Boston Police Department for 7 years, retiring in 

November 2013. 

Alejandro A. Alves is a policy advisor and chief of 

staff in the Massachusetts State Senate, and an 

officer in the Army National Guard. He is a 2012 

Masters in Public Policy graduate of the Harvard 

Kennedy School.

David Alan Sklansky is the Yosef Osheawich 

Professor of Law, University of California, 

Berkeley, School of Law. 

The authors would like to thank Kendra Bradner 

for her research assistance.



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