Trust is in the (linguistic) details: policing digilect as a communication practice

Abstract

The use of social network sites by law enforcement agencies takes place between the police as a service provider and the members of the public. Site administrators need to find a communication style that is understandable to the broadest audience. In the course of my research, I examined the entries created on the Instagram profiles of the Budapest Metropolitan Police Headquarters (Budapesti Rendőrfőkapitányság, hereinafter: BRFK) and the Hungarian Police (Magyar Rendőrség, hereinafter: MR) in two sampling periods (sampling took place in the first month of both profiles, and a year later) using the methodology of content and discourse analysis. Comparison of the results has shown that there is a more casual style of gaining the trust of the population. Appropriate and regular partnership communication with civilians can be used effectively in crime prevention and detection, and can also have positive effects on security.