Social Media as an Investigative Tool: Evidence from Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota & Kansas

The main aim of this thesis is to evaluate how law enforcement agencies use social media for investigations. The techniques that law enforcement agencies use to detect crime, collect evidence, train investigators and barriers to use were evaluated through literature review as well as personal interviews with fourteen agencies in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Kansas. A questionnaire was used to interview each agency.;Some of the findings included: Kansas agencies used a high-level of technical use of social media for all areas of investigations despite not having funding for cyber investigation training. Nebraska and Iowa received special funding for cyber investigation and used social media for investigation, but the techniques used were not consistent within the entire state. South Dakota showed an overwhelmingly lower use of social media and a low-level of technical techniques for social media investigations.