Police Actually Realizing That YouTube And Facebook Are Useful Tools To Catch Criminals

from the about-time dept

There have been so many stories of people blaming YouTube or social networks like MySpace and Facebook when stupid criminals post evidence of their crimes online that some politicians actually have been pushing to pass laws that ban posting evidence of your criminal activities to any of these sites. It's as if politicians want to make the job of police officers that much more difficult by telling criminals to stop incriminating themselves. Sometimes, even the police seem to make this mistake, blaming websites for crimes, even when they're actually great resources for helping to catch criminals.

Luckily, not all police officers think this way. Mark writes in to tell us of a case where police not only used both Facebook and YouTube to track down people setting fires in celebration following the Superbowl, but that the department looks upon those tools as being a useful way to catch criminals:
"We are using this (Facebook) as a crime-fighting tool. It's becoming pretty common."
Sure, this seems like perfectly normal common sense -- but given how we've seen some others react to crimes displayed online in this manner, it's nice to be reminded that some people really do have common sense (though, that clearly does not include the criminals posting such incriminating evidence).
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Filed Under: criminals, police, social networks


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  1. identicon
    Officer, 11 Feb 2009 @ 5:42am

    ROFL

    I love seeing stupid people get caught, especially by their own stupidity. It makes me stand in public in full uniform and giggle like a schoolgirl. They deserve it, and I'm all for giving it to them.

    "I committed this crime at this place at this time. It's that funny, y'all?" HELL YES it's funny - especially when the cuffs click into place, you MORON!

    Please, no one tell them. I want to see their face (again) when they realize that their own pathetic imbecility is what is going to convict them. Encourage them to post even more incriminating evidence on a public forum that is tied to their name and picture. I beg you. We need the laughs.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Uendwen, 11 Feb 2009 @ 9:50am

    GG Guys!

    That's just beautiful! Keep them v-logs and bulletins coming guys!

    Who would want to stop this? It's just as good as someone calling themselves into the police! Only better.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    bhajans, 16 Mar 2009 @ 11:06am

    I don't normally comment on blogs but your post was a real call to action. Thank you for a great read, I will be sure to bookmark your site and check in now and again.How long it took you to get so much info ?? Well ,I really appreciate your Hard Effort in gathering so info much for us.!!
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    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Plautus Satire, 27 Jul 2009 @ 6:36am

    Re: pig

    Who in the fuck do you think you are? All fucking pigs must hang. Did you know you can't even hang a pig to death? Their necks are too thick and fat, so they'll just hang there until they die of dehydration if you let them. The best way is to smack them in the skull with a ball peen hammer, turns their brain to custard.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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