Dutch mayors are confronted with various crises differing from a deadly incident with a monster truck to societal unrest due to convicted sex offenders returning to local society. This article presents the results of a research about the role of the mayor in so-called ‘youth crises’. The ‘big decentralization operation’ of January 1, 2015 resulted in new tasks and responsibilities for local governments regarding youth care. This research focuses on the implications of this decentralization for the leadership style of the mayor when a youth related crisis causes societal unrest. The way in which mayors deal with such a crisis was studied by means of in-depth interviews and a vignette study before and after the decentralization. This research concludes that the leadership style of the mayor did not change after the decentralization. Mayors consistently show two dominant leadership styles when managing a youth crisis: ‘First Civilian’ and ‘Peer Governor.’ As a ‘First Civilian’ the mayor’s crisis management actions focuses primarily on the community and the affected family. The style ‘Peer Governor’ is all about gathering relevant information and consultation with various partners, such as youth care organizations and aldermen. More interestingly, the results show that decentralization of youth care redefines the relationship between the local alderman responsible for youth care and the mayor as a crisis manager safeguarding local order and public safety. This relationship is currently under construction and could grow either competitive or fruitful.

This article reports on a conceptual model that provides insight into the relationship between Twitter use by community policing officers and citizens’ safety perceptions. The model has been tested using data from a relatively large-scale survey study and these results are supporting the model. Furthermore, a small impact of Twitter use has been found on feelings of safety and judgments about the police. To confirm these findings, further research on a larger scale is necessary. To find out more about the exact positive and negative effects of Twitter use by community policing officers, a more experimental design is required.

Professionals dealing with crises are more or less forced to a next level of crisis communication and crisis management. This is because of the influence of social media. Messages on Twitter, Facebook and other social media can have a significant impact on the course of developments during a crisis. Sometimes in a positive way, when help is mobilized quickly and people can be informed almost instantly. On other occasions the impact is more negative, when for instance rumors lead to false accusations or threats. In the past several years, crisis management authorities have built up more experience with the use and application of social media and monitoring tools. There are still cases where officials and professionals are taken by surprise because of the shift stream of messages and their impact on public opinion and crisis control. But also lessons have been learned, e.g. in terms of online and offline reactions, cooperation with the public, and rumor control.
This article gives an overview of research results in literature and summarizes the outcomes of a case study research project.