Disinformation and public safety

an approach to the impacts of informational disorder on police work

Abstract

Objective: This article seeks to investigate how disinformation affects police work, identifying the impacts on two services provided by the Santa Catarina Military Police, namely the 190 Emergency Call Center and the Neighbors Network Program.
Methodology: It is an exploratory and explanatory study with a qualitative approach. The deductive method was used and, in terms of data collection procedures, bibliographical and documentary research was carried out.
Results: This article presents partial results of a master's research project from the Postgraduate Program in Information Management (PPGINFO), which deals with disinformation and public safety.
Conclusions: The research is based on the concept that disinformation goes beyond untrue or false information, encompassing distortions, parts of the truth, decontextualization and fragmentation removed from its historicity, withholding, subtracting or confusing reality. In this sense, decontextualized or incomplete information can hinder decision-making, rather than supporting the effective deployment of a police garrison or other solutions to public order problems. This dispersion of information can affect both the 190 Emergency Call Center responders and the Neighborhood Network managers, undermining the effectiveness and quality of police work.