PSAD 414 – Group Project Ethical Implications of Social Media Use in Public Safety Group Epsilon Group Epsilon Introduction/Topic Overview 2 Slides 2 Slides 2 Slides 2 Slides 2 Slides References 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Group Epsilon INTRODUCTION 3 Group Epsilon 4 Group Epsilon 5 Group Epsilon 6 Group Epsilon 7 Group Epsilon 8 Group Epsilon 9 Group Epsilon 10 Group Epsilon 11 Group Epsilon 12 REFERENCES Group Epsilon Discussion 1 responses needed Marginal Rate of Substitution What is the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) and why does it diminish as the consumer substitutes one product for another? Use examples to illustrate. Guided Response: In 300 words or more, please, provide your response to the above discussion question. Find two goods from your own consumption basket and explain how the MRS changes for the two products as you substitute one for the other. Respond substantively (150 words) to at least two of your classmates’ postings. Substantive responses use theory, research, and experience or examples to support ideas and further the class knowledge on the discussion topic. Respond to Stephen Ghosal post What is the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) and why does it diminish as the consumer substitutes one product for another? Use examples to illustrate. The marginal rate of substitution (MRS) is defined as the amount of one product a consumer is willing to give up for one more unit of a different product, while still remaining at the same utility level (Douglas, 2012).  As a consumer decides between the consumption between two products, the decision the consumer makes effects both products in different ways.  The reason the marginal rate of substitution begins to diminish once the consumer substitutes one product for another is because the marginal utility is affected by the substitution process (Douglas, 2012).  The marginal utility is defined as the change in total utility due to the consumption of one more unit of that product, holding constant the consumption of the other product (Douglas, 2012).  Since one product is being utilized more, then the other product is being used less at that expense.  An example of marginal rate of substitution is a consumer choosing between different restaurants that have differing atmospheres and cuisines, but still have the same cost. When you rate these different restaurants by the different atmospheres and by the level of the cuisine, and create a ratio out of the two numbers, this will give the consumer a better idea of which restaurant their time and money should be spent at, even though they enjoy having dinner at all the different options. This showcases marginal rate of substitution because the consumer is giving up the amount of time and money they spend at one restaurant, to spend at another restaurant that they enjoy more, at the same utility level.  If the situation had been either choos ...

1. PSAD 414 – Group Project
Ethical Implications of Social Media Use in Public Safety
Group Epsilon
Group Epsilon
Introduction/Topic Overview
2 Slides
2 Slides
2 Slides
2 Slides
2 Slides
References
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Group Epsilon

2. INTRODUCTION
3
Group Epsilon
4
Group Epsilon
5
Group Epsilon
6

3. Group Epsilon
7
Group Epsilon
8
Group Epsilon
9
Group Epsilon

4. 10
Group Epsilon
11
Group Epsilon
12
REFERENCES
Group Epsilon
Discussion 1 responses needed
Marginal Rate of Substitution
What is the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) and why does it
diminish as the consumer substitutes one product for another?

5. Use examples to illustrate.
Guided Response: In 300 words or more, please, provide your
response to the above discussion question. Find two goods from
your own consumption basket and explain how the MRS
changes for the two products as you substitute one for the other.
Respond substantively (150 words) to at least two of your
classmates’ postings. Substantive responses use theory,
research, and experience or examples to support ideas and
further the class knowledge on the discussion topic.
Respond to Stephen Ghosal post
What is the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) and why does it
diminish as the consumer substitutes one product for another?
Use examples to illustrate.
The marginal rate of substitution (MRS) is defined as the
amount of one product a consumer is willing to give up for one
more unit of a different product, while still remaining at the
same utility level (Douglas, 2012). As a consumer decides
between the consumption between two products, the decision
the consumer makes effects both products in different ways.
The reason the marginal rate of substitution begins to diminish
once the consumer substitutes one product for another is
because the marginal utility is affected by the substitution
process (Douglas, 2012). The marginal utility is defined as the
change in total utility due to the consumption of one more unit
of that product, holding constant the consumption of the other
product (Douglas, 2012). Since one product is being utilized
more, then the other product is being used less at that expense.
An example of marginal rate of substitution is a consumer
choosing between different restaurants that have differing
atmospheres and cuisines, but still have the same cost. When
you rate these different restaurants by the different atmospheres
and by the level of the cuisine, and create a ratio out of the two
numbers, this will give the consumer a better idea of which
restaurant their time and money should be spent at, even though

6. they enjoy having dinner at all the different options. This
showcases marginal rate of substitution because the consumer is
giving up the amount of time and money they spend at one
restaurant, to spend at another restaurant that they enjoy more,
at the same utility level. If the situation had been either choose
a restaurant for dinner, or eating at home, there is still going to
be marginal rate of substitution however the comparison will
differ since there will not be multiple restaurants being
compared.
Douglas, E. (2012). Managerial Economics. [Electronic
Version] Retrieved September 9, 2019
from https://content.ashford.edu
Respond to Ryne Solberg post
Marginal Rate of Substitution (MRS) deals with
consumers and their indifference towards objects, goods or
events. It is essentially stating how much a person is willing to
give up a certain good for another good that is of equal
satisfaction (Douglas, 2012). The author uses a really good and
relatable example of comparing movies to ballgames. In
comparing these the formula is fairly simple, it is applying a
derivative to one event, and dividing it by the event that the
consumer will be instead doing. If this point aligns closely to
an indifference curve, then it is still considered a good
substitute. The indifference curve graphically represents the
satisfaction of a consumer, or where they will remain
indifferent between the compared goods (Hayes, 2019).
It’s important to know the ratio of each good in
relation to the other prior to performing any MRS. It
essentially places a value of how much one good a consumer
prefers in relation to getting the same satisfaction from another
good. My example would be in dealing with cattle. In the local
market Gelbvieh (red cattle) sell for significantly less than
Angus (black cattle). It is so much so that it would take nearly
two-gelbvieh calves, to replace the cost of a single angus calf.

7. With this the indifference line results in a negative slope, but
it is still a gradual decline. As with this the rate of substitution
could take a while to reach unacceptable terms. This is due to
how close the two goods are. If I were to place a higher value
on the angus calves, it would increase the Gelbviehs number for
replacement, therefor making the curve much steeper and rate of
substitution would greatly diminish as a result.
References
Douglas, E. (2012). Managerial Economics (1st ed.) [Electronic
version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
Hayes, A. (2019, September 9). Marginal rate of substitution –
MRS definition. Investopedia. Retrieved
from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marginal_rate_subs
titution.asp (Links to an external site.)
Discussion 2
Demand Elasticity
Please, read the article Hainer, R. (2010), provided in the
required readings section for this week. The tobacco industry is
a prime example to consider when talking about price elasticity
of demand. While nicotine use can be addictive for many users,
it is not addictive for the so-called "social smokers".
What can we say about the price elasticity of demand for
nicotine products (such as cigarettes, pipes, tobacco) in the
group of nicotine addicted users, versus the group of "social
smokers"? Can we say whose demand is likely to be more
elastic? Why?
Guided Response: Provide your response to the discussion
question in 300 words or more. Further, comment on the
effectiveness of government policy aimed at reducing the
negative effects of smoking on health. For example, consider
high taxation on producers? – is that effective? Respond
substantively to at least two of your classmates’ postings.
Substantive (150 words) responses use theory, research, and
experience or examples to support ideas and further the class

8. knowledge on the discussion topic.
Respond to Keondra Tate post
“Price elasticity of demand is an economic measure of the
change in the quantity demanded or purchased of a product in
relation to its price change” (Kenton, 2018). When considering
the difference between the group of nicotine addicted users
versus social smokers, there is a difference in elasticity. When a
person is a nicotine addicted user, they are more likely to buy
tobacco products regardless of the price because their body is
telling them they need the nicotine. Therefore, price elasticity
of demand among the nicotine addicted users’ group is low
because despite the increase in prices, people will continue to
buy cigarettes or other tobacco products to feed their addiction.
On the other hand, social smokers are not addicted to nicotine
according to the article Social Smokers Aren’t Hooked on
Nicotine, Just Smoking, many social smokers confine smoking
to certain situations and occasions and can sometimes go
months without smoking. One social smoker said they had not
bought a pack of cigarettes in over 20 years. On the contrary,
while some smokers find it easier to quit smoking regularly,
some say it is more difficult to quit social smoking. Since social
smokers don’t usual buy the tobacco products and only use them
in certain situations, I would say that the price elasticity of
demand in the social smokers’ group is elastic. If a group
already doesn’t buy a product frequently, increasing the price
would only deter them even more from buying the product.
The article mentions that there has been a decrease in the
number of habitual smokers but an increase in social smokers.
With the increase in taxes and the laws prohibiting smoking in
many business establishments, many smokers have opted to
decrease their habit or stop all together. However, many
continue to smoke in certain social settings. I believe that
government policies have been effective in moving people away
from smoking cigarettes but with new tobacco products being

9. released, many smokers have just opted for an alternative rather
than quit using tobacco altogether. Cigarette smokers may be
decreasing but the usage of vapes and e-cigarettes has increased
over time.
References
Kenton, W. (2019, July 12). Price Elasticity of Demand.
Retrieved from
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/priceelasticity.asp
Social Smokers: Addicted or just dabbling? (2008, September
9). Retrieved from https://www.health.com/health/condition-
article/0,,20213458,00.html
Respond to Nicole Ryan post
When we consider price elasticity of demand, Hainer has given
us a great example that helps to illustrate this concept. There
are two kinds of smokers, one where the nicotine is addictive
and they become daily smokers, and then there is the social
smoker that only picks up a cigarette occasionally and can put
them down at any time. These social smothers don’t necessarily
seem to be affected by changes in cost of cigarettes if they are
never truly purchasing the product. They are collecting their
random supply of cigarettes from friends or whomever they are
around in the social environment where they can simply fill
their social desire of smoking without actually buying
anything. Regardless, Douglas explains that “price elasticity of
demand is defined as the percentage change in quantity
demanded divided by the percentage change in price” (2012,
Section 4.2 Elasticities of Demand,” para. 2).
The demand is more elastic for those tobacco consumers that are
daily users. The price elasticity of demand for nicotine
addicted users is mostly irrelevant because it wouldn’t matter
what the cost of the cigarette or other tobacco cost, the daily
user is going to spend the money for the pack of cigarettes to
satisfy their addiction. No matter the change in price, the
demand from this group of consumers will remain continue. As
for the price elasticity for the social smoker, these users are not

10. physically contributing to the tobacco economy and they are not
going to make the purchase regardless of the cost of the
product. The cost of the products could increase 1%, 2% and so
on and the social smokers are going to rely on the daily users
for their occasional smoke when they are around other smokers,
at the bar or otherwise.
The high taxation on tobacco by the government, while not
100% effective, it is still going to touch a certain percentage of
the users and if that means that it helps to drive addicts to quit
smoking, even a small percentage, it is worth it. The taxation
may push certain users to quit due to the cost now effecting
their other monthly bills. There’s always going those that can
afford or will make it a priority to afford the cigarette no matter
the taxation. These consumers would be extremely elastic.
References:
Douglas, E. (2012). Managerial Economics (1st ed.) [Electronic
version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
Two slides written thoroughly covering the topic which for
these slides will be current trends of the main topic below. At
least 2-3 legitimate verifiable sources. Due Saturday @ 6 AM
EST 32 hours. The topic for the current trends to be discussed
in the slides I will need by tomorrow at 12 EST. the grading
rubric is also attached at the end.
Topic:
Mining Social Media Data for Policing, the Ethical Way
Associated Articles I found as an example to the subject:
As one example, the city of Huntington Beach, Calif., used

11. social media monitoring to inform its policing efforts during the
U.S. Open of Surfing in 2015, an event that often leads to
increased crime along with the large crowds it attracts. Using
tools from GeoFeedia, a company that offers location-based
analytics platforms, the Huntington Beach Police Department
was able to monitor social media activity near parking garages
in the area — places where teens often meet to drink or use
drugs, occasionally leading to altercations over drug deals or
other more serious crimes. The software monitored keywords
like “gun,” “fight” and “shoot” to identify potential crimes and
the city then sent patrol officers to investigate incidents.
While this intervention was relatively successful, shortly
thereafter, police departments in Baltimore, Chicago, Fresno,
Calif., and other cities received significant pushback for their
social mining efforts. Reminiscent of the recent Cambridge
Analytica controversy, these law enforcement agencies
partnered with third parties like GeoFeedia that gained access to
back-end data streams via APIs. Internal police records from
Working Narratives revealed that one of GeoFeedia’s stated
goals was to bypass privacy options offered by sites like
Facebook. Platforms like GeoFeedia and a similar tool called
Snaptrends tied in dummy accounts — fake profiles that often
use provocative pictures of women to attract suspects as friends
or followers — to track users’ location across social media
sites, regardless of whether or not they publicly geo-tag their
posts.
Instructions
In a group process, identify an emerging public safety ethical
trend or organizational ethical issue and present the issue in a
PowerPoint presentation posted to your Group Discussion area.
Groups will be assigned by your instructor during week 2 of the
course. As a group, conduct research into your issue and
incorporate the results of your research, including high quality
references, into your presentation.

12. The Ethical Issue Presentation shall cover all of the following
topics:
· Presentation and discussion of academic and anecdotal
resource materials
· Deconstruction of current public safety ethical issues related
to your topic
· Discussion of the results of your group research into public
safety ethical issues related to your topic, including high quality
references
· Identification of acceptable and effective professional
public safety ethical principles related to your topic, including
possible best practices
· Include references on separate slide, in proper APA format
The Group Project is worth 100 points and is 20% of your final
grade. Each group shall prepare a PowerPoint presentation. The
presentation should be 10 to 15 slides in length, excluding table
of contents, graphics and tables, and references. Be sure to
include references to support your presentation. In the following
descending order of preference, information sources must be
either peer-reviewed articles, government reports, or other
sources approved by your instructor. Internet information
sources from other than authoritative sources are discouraged.
See the Group PowerPoint Project Rubric grading rubric for
more information.
Each group member must also complete an evaluation that will
factor into the grade provided for the “group member
evaluation” portion shown in the table above. Each group
member may not get the same grade as the group member
evaluation portion will be determined by other group members.
These evaluations will be kept confidential. Not submitting
group evaluation form, or submitting them late will result in a
late penalty. The form is available in the Course at a Glance >
PSAD 414 Group Participation Form.
Group discussion on presentation:
S: I really like Josh's idea. With whatever topic we go with, I

13. think it needs to be an emerging trend that can related to a large
spectrum of public safety and has a nationwide impact on the
questions related to its ethical implications.
D: I like this idea as well... I think we can get a lot on the
ethical implications of social media monitoring especially with
a lot of public safety offices using it these days. It is an
upcoming trend that I think would be a good topic for us to
discuss and learn about.
B: So our organizational ethical issue is social media use?
D: I believe what the post was talking about was policing and
monitoring social media. Having people that are watching social
media with special websites and tools. There are many agencies
that are able to have key words like "bomb" or "shooting" etc.
and when those words come up there is an alert process to
notify that someone or some agency should look into it. We
actually use one of these systems at my job and get alerts if
something is going on in social media and 9 times out of ten we
get the notification from social media outlet before any news or
police station.
That is what I got out of his post but please if I am wrong
someone correct me. I would think that the ethical issue would
be looking into someone’s social media without their consent
and bypassing all security settings that the user has set up.
M: That makes sense to me. Seems like what we are trying to
do here is link invasion of privacy with ethics right? When we
dive into someone's social media account to gauge and
ultimately label their activity as dangerous, we as public safety
officials are being unethical. Right? Are we leaning towards
saying that it is unethical to "label" certain activity as
dangerous, such as using the words "bomb" or "shooting"
(among others) in one's social media posts? This certainly goes
against freedom of speech, but where do the ethics come into
play? I suppose it would be unethical to essentially put people
on a "watch list" or open an investigation on someone because
of what they said on social media. I think this topic can go in
many different directions. We probably need to narrow it down

14. to something specific and get everyone on the same page.
Options:
1. Public safety professionals using social media for public
relations. Essentially "oversharing" operational information
with the public and blurring the lines between the citizen and
the police.
2. Police using social media as an intelligence or evidence
gathering platform. Value of the data collected and the
potential risks associated with criminalizing innocent people
because of their social media posts. This leads to public
misconception of or bias towards individuals or groups of
people and possibly even unfair trials.
3. Social media being used by law enforcement in a way that
interferes with democratic rights such as, freedom of
expression. Using social media to "flag" people (that is kind of
what I talked about above). What is private and what is public?
There are a lot of organizations that protest this use of social
media.
These are just few ideas. Standing by for team feedback.
M: Base upon everyone's comments thus far, it looks like we are
all ok with doing our project on the ethical implications of
social media use in public safety. Specifically, law enforcement
using social media to collect intelligence and monitor the
activity of citizens thus interfering with our right to privacy and
freedom of expression. Also, the ethical issues with bypassing
privacy settings on particular sites in order to collect data on
individuals so that they can be "flagged" for further
monitoring. Overall, we as citizens feel it is unethical and
imposing whereas law enforcement feels that it is a necessary
activity to stop crime and prevent terrorism. What is right?
What is wrong? What is ethical? What is not?
Am I correct here? Is everyone on track with that?
Assuming everyone agrees, we need to move forward with our
presentation. I am totally open to ideas on how/where we want
to drill deeper into this. I believe that if we all generate a
minimum of two slides each, we should be good to go.

15. Please identify what area within this topic you want to write
about (what will your slides be about?).
Attached is a skeleton slide show to get us started. I just threw
this together, so if someone has a better format, I am totally
open to that (make it prettier!).
Standing by for your comments. Reminder: this is due next
week!
S: Thanks for laying this out Matt. Some ideas for slides:
-Executive Summary (1 slide) - Overall points of our findings
related to unethical practices in social media montioring by
governmental agencies
- History (2 slides) - Historical talking points related to
research discovered which brought us to this new trend
- Current Trend (2 slides) - Main research discoveries related to
our topic (this will be the discussion of the actual issue)
- Alternatives (3-4 slides) - This can be our proposed
alternatives that are ethical to achieve similar results based on
our findings
-Conclusion (1-2 slides) - Reinforcing the overall opinion of
unethical practices and elaborating on alternative meathods
M: One thing to think about: usually when I am creating Power
Point presentations, it is for the purpose of briefing or training
people. In those situations, less text more talking is best.
However, since we aren't going to actually 'present/brief' this
slide show, we need to ensure that our respective slides are
populated with enough text and graphics so that they are not up
for interpretation. I'm not saying that every slide should have a
several hundred word essay on it, but our bullet points need to
be thorough due to the fact that we won't actually be able to talk
about and/or explain them. Just food for thought. Hope that
makes sense.
B: So far it looks like Joshua is doing current trends and you
are doing the history slides. In order for our presentation to be
cohesive, if Joshua could provide us with some of the curernt
trends he’s looking at, I could work on Alternatives. These two
areas need to go together.

16. M: I'll take care of the Executive Summary/Introduction. I'll
probably generate at least two slides. Once we are all done, I'll
take care of the table of contents as well.
J: No problem, I will get a fee things posted by tomorrow
sometime. I have to back at work in 4 hours. So I will get this
topics posted as soon as I can get a little time to do some more
research.