Policing social media: Are procedural justice principles guiding Canadian police interactions online?

Police presence on social media has become increasingly common in recent years and has arguably altered policing in many ways. Although research in this area is increasing, the growing presence of police on a range of social media platforms requires further examination of the various nuances that continue to emerge regarding this symbiosis. To that end, only a small number of studies have examined this topic from the perspective of police personnel in the Canadian context. Accordingly, drawing on in-depth interviews with police personnel overseeing police social media sites, this article examines how Canadian police services manage negativity and conflict online. The findings suggest that police services address negativity and conflict on their social media sites by drawing on the principles of procedural justice to guide their interactions. We discuss the implications of these findings and how police–public social media interactions might be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]