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Stapleford, Richard J. (2017) Digital and social media: the panacea of transformative engagement with young people; rhetoric or reality? Qualitative based research exploring police led digital and social media engagement with young people in Nottinghamshire. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
The disengagement of young people from community participation is a debate that pervades the literature and is a concern for UK policing whose strategic aim is to secure the efficient and effective engagement of young people in an operational landscape that is shaped by austerity. Digital and Social Media is seen as offering immense potential to deliver enhanced participation at a fraction of the cost of traditional engagement, but there is a distinct lack of empirical research associated with the police use of digital and social media to engage young people. The aim of this research is to allow young people to shape the way Nottinghamshire Police engage with them via digital and social media. To this end, a 40-point engagement framework based on the principles of ‘Quid Pro Quo’ reciprocal engagement is offered as the product of this youthful insight. The theoretical positioning of the research is within the Interpretivist paradigm and social control theory and procedural justice theory justify why engaging young people is so important to the survival of the British style of policing. A qualitative methodology frames the research design, which includes the use of the semi-structured interview and four focus groups involving young people. The thesis suggests that young people are not disinterested, lackadaisical or apathetic when it comes to police engagement, they are simply disconnected from the police engagement framework, which appears to have failed historically to understand how and why young people wish to participate in policing. Whilst participants felt that Nottinghamshire Police’s digital offer is suitable for young people, it is concluded that digital and social media is not the ‘Holy Grail’ or indeed the panacea for police engagement and therefore young people may not yet be ready to accept such technology and swap physical visibility and accessibility for their virtual counterparts.
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0.
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