Abstract
“Good morning, thanks to everybody for your posts concerning the escalation of crime. If any members have a spare half hour to walk around the streets during the day, especially after school time, to keep a look out and report anyone suspicious…” It was a post on a community hub in a middle class East London suburb, where the threat of crime has been hyped up, largely on social media, out of all proportion to what is actually happening on the streets.
Levels of crime are certainly reported to have grown nationally. Figures from police forces across England and Wales in the year to last September show an increase of 14 per cent over the previous year. But is fear of crime rising faster than crime itself? And how much of that fear is driven by social media?
I started wondering after canvassing a local road asking about issues that concerned voters. At a few houses – all members of the community hub on Facebook – there was concern about crime. “There has been all sorts around here,” said one householder. A little more questioning established that kids on bikes had vandalised cars a month before. The incident had been splashed across the community hub, attracting myriad comments. Similar views came from other houses that were also on the hub. However, when I asked about crime in houses that didn't look at the community website, I was told crime was no worse than before and they had not heard much about it.
It seemed people on social media were whipping up fear. There were people in the street pretty much cowering behind the door, wondering when the criminals were coming for them.
We know crime has always been a popular media issue. The more gory the crime, the more popular it is with newsdesks. Big crime stories dominate press and television news, sometimes developing into mini-soaps in the nature of the coverage. Traditionally, local newspapers have been filled with crime stories. They are easy to do and the police are generally willing to get publicity to help them in their work. The overall effect has often been to overemphasise crime in a given area, fostering fear.
The fear of crime and a lack of confidence in the police to deal with it have led to vigilante-style initiatives in a number of places across the UK. Some community groups run their own patrols, supported by local councils that, though often blamed for crime, have limited power to fight it. The Metropolitan Police, for example, is funded outside local council jurisdiction. If things continue down the vigilante path, it is surely only a matter of time before we see the headline: “Vigilante group severely injures suspect.”
Social media can, of course, have positive benefits in combating crime. People get in touch via such channels. They can be alerted to crime in the area, making them more vigilant. Useful networks can be created via WhatsApp groups. They make it easier for people to let each other know what is going on. The problem comes in defining the narrow line between better information and communication, and whipping up hysterical fear. When people on social media hype fear and suspicion they merely become another adjunct of the fake news world.
So yes, there is a positive role for social media. But some sites are encouraging users to isolate themselves in silos of like-minded individuals, feeding each other's prejudices, playing on their insecurities. Some sites are actually facilitating plain and simple falsehoods.
