Police scour Facebook and Bebo for criminals

by generaldecay | January 27, 2009 at 10:31 am

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Trainee officers at Strathclyde Police are being used to search social networking sites for pictures of people posing with weapons, mainly knives. More than 400 people, most of them teenagers, have been questioned and several convictions have been secured. Wpc Holly McGee, 18, said: "We're looking for anyone who is brandishing offensive weapons or blades. We take the date, the time, detail of what's in the photograph, then a copy of the photograph is printed out and thereafter it's all sent to the gangs task force unit." Supt Bob Hamilton, of the Violence Reduction Unit, said around 40 people were arrested for posing in public places with weapons, mainly knives and machetes, and the rest were spoken to at home. Teenagers who posted photos of themselves posing with weapons in the street or in a park were breaking the law and were arrested, while those who posed at home were spoken to by officers.

Interesting. On the one hand, it represents a unique and innovative use of social networking sites and internet technology in tackling crime. And one can't really object to removing knives from Britain's streets. On the other hand, this is evidence that Britain is becoming more and more a police state. It is my understanding that profiles and photos on Facebook and Bebo are private until you choose to make them otherwise. So, how then, can police begin to investigate photographs for weapons?