The digital turn in police image work: determinants of adoption, use and perceived effectiveness of social media communications in forces in England & Wales.
This paper examines police use of social media platforms in England and Wales. Based on a novel linked dataset consisting of survey data from 38 forces, police Twitter communications from all 43 forces, and qualitative interviews with corporate communications staff, analysis shows variation in patte...
| Published in: | Policing & Society Vol. 36; no. 6; pp. 772 - 793 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Aug2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195621690&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195621690 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10439463 BJQ jtl: Policing & Society issn: 10439463 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2026 vid: 36 iid: 6 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 195621690 10.1080/10439463.2026.2618811 ppf: 772 ppct: 21 formats: tig: atl: The digital turn in police image work: determinants of adoption, use and perceived effectiveness of social media communications in forces in England & Wales. aug: au: Cullen, Arron Williams, Matthew L. affil: School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom su: England Innovation adoption Police Police-community relations Public relations Police administration sug: subj: Innovation adoption Police Police-community relations Public relations Police administration England Provincial police services Police Protection Federal police services Municipal police services Public Relations Agencies keyword: image work linked data social media image work linked data social media ab: This paper examines police use of social media platforms in England and Wales. Based on a novel linked dataset consisting of survey data from 38 forces, police Twitter communications from all 43 forces, and qualitative interviews with corporate communications staff, analysis shows variation in patterns of adoption and usage, and perceptions of effectiveness by a range of organisational and policy factors. Drawing on the notion of 'image work', the findings indicate that police communications have gone through significant changes over the past decade, shifting from professionalisation to the digitalisation of police image work. The paper concludes that while police forces continueto be cautious about fully adopting social media, digital channels are becoming increasingly central for operational policing and enhancing customer service-related duties. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|