Public police’s philanthropy and Twitter communications in Canada

What is it about?

Public police have long engaged in image management through multiple media. In the social media age, these practices of image management have moved online. Public police have also begun to engage in philanthropy, and these efforts are strategically communicated in digital realms using visual media. This paper examines social media framing of police philanthropic and charitable work in Canada. Drawing from discourse and semiotic analysis, we examine the ways that police communications frame their activities as contributions to charity and community wellbeing in Canada. Tweets were analyzed for ideas, images, hashtags, and themes that conveyed the philanthropic work of police forces, police associations, as well as police foundations. We discovered four main themes of forms of framing in these social media communications. We argue that police use these communications and representations as techniques to flaunt social capital and to boost perceptions of legitimacy and benevolence. Examining police communications about philanthropy reveals something about the politics of giving but also the politics of police use of social media. It is crucial to investigate how public police are using social media and for what purposes. Research is needed to examine the character and tone of these communications and the effects, as social media messaging can shape public opinion.

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