New Media and the Coproduction of Safety

Abstract

The new media have been argued to strengthen the coproduction of safety by reducing the costs of interactions between government and citizens and providing new communicative potential. Does that lead to relevant additional input from citizens in police work? Or are preexisting interactions reproduced online? This empirical study of police practices in the Netherlands shows that new media indeed strengthen the coproduction of safety by enabling the police to reach more citizens and contact them 24/7. The police build new connections to citizens: mediated citizen networks form an important addition to offline networks. The costs are reduced most in a situation where new media replace face-to-face contacts between police and citizens, that is, in the coproduction of police patrol work. The article concludes that new media support the trend of responsibilization: the police use new media to build virtual networks with citizens and engage them anywhere and anytime in the coproduction of safety.