More than a trivial pursuit: Public order policing narratives and the ‘social media test’

• Published in: Crime, media, culture Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 185 - 207
• Main Author: Ellis, Justin R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.08.2021; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Accountability; Bystanders; Criminalization; Criminology; Digital media; Discourse; Excessive force; Genealogy; Interviews; Law enforcement; Narratives; News media; Police; Policing; Public order; Social evolution; Social media; Social networks; Australia; bystander video; latent sousveillance; police excessive force; social media; narrative criminology; Accountability
• ISSN: 1741-6590; 1741-6604
• DOI: 10.1177/1741659020918634

Social media has transformed public discourse on policing and the contest of control over the police image. This article draws on original, empirical research to conceptualise the phenomenon of the ‘social media test’ – the evolution of social media into a legitimate measure of police performance. Through in-depth interviews with police and non-police respondents the article maps the genealogy of, and provides perspective on, one of the first viral cases of bystander video of police excessive force in Australia filmed and uploaded to YouTube. The study shows the video’s impact on hegemonic mainstream and police news media narratives, processes of criminalisation and police accountability and the merit of narrative criminology in unpacking these phenomena. Police alluding to the ‘social media test’ in in-depth interviews shows that digital media in general and social media in particular can no longer be dismissed as peripheral or subsidiary to public discourse on policing in a digital society.