The use of Facebook by a Community Policing Forum to combat crime

Crime is a reality that affects everyone, especially in South Africa that has one of the world's highest crime rates. A number of strategies have been undertaken by the South African society at large in the fight against crime. One of these was the establishment of Community Policing Forums (CPFs) which encourages communities to work with the South African Police Service (SAPS) to combat and ultimately reduce crime. A number of these CPFs have embraced Facebook to execute their mandate. Little research has been done on how Facebook is used in South Africa to fight crime. The aim of this study is to understand how CPFs use Facebook in their fight against crime by determining the type of information that is shared among themselves as well as how this information is shared. This was done by employing a thematic content analysis approach of a months' worth of Facebook posts of a particular CPF community in the East Rand of Gauteng, South Africa. This resulted in the analysis of 247 posts. This study found that the CPF community shares two types of information: firstly, information relating to the building of a cohesive community, which in terms of this research is defined as a community with a common vision to achieving more effective crime control. Secondly, information related to the creating of awareness of crime in the area. It was further shown that community members share information between different communities such as private security firms, other CPFs, and other communities dedicated to the fight against crime. They therefore used the power of Facebook to expand the boundaries of their immediate community. It was further found that even though the main operating platform for the CPF is Facebook, community members were encouraged to join the WhatsApp group of their local Neighbourhood Watch (NHW), which highlighted that CPFs operate on multiple platforms. The significance of this research is presented in the Crime Prevention Lifecycle which explains that within a cohesive community, crime can be reduced through the actions of community members. Further research is recommended to extend the understanding of CPFs' and other less structured communities' use of social media focusing on the integration of multiple platforms.