Ethical Dilemmas in Social Media Use in Public Safety Administration
Today, public safety administrators at all levels are routinely confronted with complex ethical dilemmas that demand more than a casual analysis and response. Moreover, the types of ethical dilemmas that confront many public safety administrators at present have expanded to include issues that did not even exist a few years ago, most especially those involving the use of social media platforms. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of these types of ethical issues that may confront public safety administrators, suggested training in response to these trends and the identification of relevant stakeholders. In addition, the paper provides an implementation plan and process followed by a draft code of ethics to help guide public safety practitioners. Finally, a summary of the research and key findings concerning the ethical dilemmas involved in social media use in public safety administration are presented in the paper’s conclusion.

Review and Analysis

Although the following review and analysis of the issues involved in social media use in public safety administrative is not exhaustive, it does represent some of the more salient problems that practitioners are likely to encounter when confronted with ethical dilemmas caused by the proliferation of social media platforms. In fact, that are a wide array of factors that must be taken into account when the public disclosure of private information are involved. Citizens of the United States have a fundamental constitutional right to privacy, as well as other legal protections, and growing numbers of Americans are concerned about increased violations of their privacy from the government, businesses and even private individuals who do not have a right to their personal information.

The rapid growth of these platforms has made it increasingly difficult for public safety practitioners to formulate timely and informed guidelines for their use. In this regard, Sheer (2015) emphasizes that, “The popularity of a new platform may spread overnight. So it may be difficult for administrators to keep up with the latest social media app, but it is imperative to understand a number of legal issues that apply to social media in general” (p. 7). This advice is timely and relevant to public safety administration, of course, but far too practitioners may not fully comprehend the legal issues that are applicable to social media platforms to private the basis for optimal social media use guidelines.

At present, a majority of the states do not have legal requirements in place for government authorities to develop guidelines for social media use, but a growing number have determined that there is a need for such guidelines and efforts are underway to draft and implement policies that are congruent with certain principles, including the protection of privacy rights (Sheer, 2015). Notwithstanding this growing recognition, however, there remains a profound lack of universally applicable guidelines that are most appropriate for each state and community (Sheer, 2015).

Nevertheless, there is a continuing need for some type of overarching guidelines concerning social media use by public safety administrators to avoid violations of privacy rights. For instance, Sheer (2015) also notes that, “State law and community standards differ around the country, so what may be acceptable in one jurisdiction may not work in another” (2015, p. 8). It is important to point out, though, that in their efforts to develop and implement effective guidelines concerning social media use that public safety administrators also take into account the constitutional right to free speech, violations of which will also have significant implications for government authorities. As Sheer (2015) concludes, “While different communities may have different philosophies on acceptable social media usage, districts must remember not to implement an overly restrictive policy that creates unintended legal liabilities” (p. 9). In essence, this observation represents a significant ethical dilemma for public safety administrators who want to ensure that stakeholders’ legal Fourth Amendment rights to privacy are protected while ensuring that their First Amendment right to free speech is also protected in view of prevailing community standards.

Developing and implementing appropriate standards and guidelines for social media use therefore requires an examination and understanding of the other types of violations that may result in unintended outcomes, including legal actions by individual citizens and advocacy groups (Nye, 2011). Consequently, the failure on the part of public safety administrators to confront this ethical dilemma head-also has serious civil and even criminal implications involved. As Nye (2011) points out: “Violating the rules of professional conduct is a deviation from the standard of care, and persons and entities who feel themselves injured/damaged by reason thereof may resort to civil lawsuits for money damages and injunctive relief, as well as prosecution of criminal complaints” (p. 15).

In other words, malfeasance on the part of public safety administrators to carefully weigh the relative importance of all of the legal issues, stakeholders involved and prevailing community standards and formulate effective guidelines for social media use is clearly tantamount to violating the rules of professional conduct. In the past, these types of failures were not associated with guidelines involving online practices, but the explosive growth in social media platforms has focused increased attention on these needs....…privacy and should not solicit private information from or about them except for compelling professional reasons. Once private information is shared, standards of confidentiality apply.

· Public safety administration staff members should protect the confidentiality of all information obtained in the course of professional service, except for compelling professional reasons.

· The general expectation that government officials, including public safety administration staff members, will keep information confidential does not apply when disclosure is necessary to prevent serious, foreseeable, and imminent harm to an individual or others.

· In all instances, public administration staff members should disclose the least amount of confidential information necessary to achieve the desired purpose and only information that is directly relevant to the purpose for which the disclosure is made should be revealed.

· Public safety administration staff members should not discuss confidential information, electronically or in person, in any setting unless privacy can be ensured.

· Public safety administration staff members should take reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality of electronic communications, including information provided to individual constituents or third parties.

· Public safety administration staff members should use applicable safeguards (such as encryption, firewalls, and passwords) when using electronic communications such as e-mail, online posts, online chat sessions, mobile communication, and text messages.

· Public safety administration staff members should develop and disclose policies and procedures for notifying constituents of any breach of confidential information in a timely manner.

· Finally, in the event of unauthorized access to records or information, including any unauthorized access to electronic communication or storage systems, public safety administration staff members should inform constituents of such disclosures, consistent with applicable laws and professional standards (adapted from the NASW code of ethics, 2017).

Conclusion

The ethical dilemmas that routinely confront public safety administrators have been amplified and complicated by the use of social media platforms by stakeholders, including both public safety administration staff and their constituents. In sum, the goal of public safety administration practitioners to protect the public can be adversely affected when privacy violations occur. The research was consistent in showing that even the most well intentioned guidelines may be inadequate to protect them from serious civil actions and even criminal prosecutions if they fail to ensure that adequate legal and ethical protections are in place. Moreover, the research was also consistent in showing that the legal and ethical landscape is dynamic, making the need for continuous diligence to identify relevant changes in this landscape absolutely essential. The suggested training and draft code of ethics set forth above represent a useful starting point for this purpose.