VOLUME 22, ISSUE 2, PAGES 25 – 32 (2021) Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society E-ISSN 2332-886X Available online at https://scholasticahq.com/criminology-criminal-justice-law-society/ Police Use of Social Media as Bureaucratic Propaganda: Comments on State Violence and Law Enforcement Use of Social Media in 2020 Christopher J. Schneider Brandon University A B S T R A C T A N D A R T I C L E I N F O R M A T I O N Police are recognized as primary producers of social order, and social media factor into the process of gaining the co- operation of citizens in ways that serve the interests of police. In this short commentary piece, I provide an overview of police use of social media and highlight some recent thematic examples from 2020 to illustrate how police use of social media is consistent with Altheide and Johnson’s (1980) concept of “bureaucratic propaganda,” the aim of which is to sustain the appearance of institutional legitimacy in the form of official information. Article History: Keywords: Received April 9th, 2021 police, social media, propaganda, bureaucratic propaganda, social control Received in revised form June 12th, 2021 th Accepted July 9 , 2021 © 2021 Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society and The Western Society of Criminology Hosting by Scholastica. All rights reserved. Corresponding author: Christopher J. Schneider, PhD, Brandon University 270 18th Street, Brandon, Manitoba, R7A 6A9, Canada Email:
[email protected] 2 SCHNEIDER The year 2020 has been called the year of logic of social media is very much the opposite - non- protests.