Should police be allowed to use social media to search for criminal activity?

Pepper said:
I saw this question on 'Smerconish.' It was the poll question. "Should cops be allowed.....etc." The people, over 30,000, voted YES 95% to 5% against.

I am in agreement. Social Media is an Open Platform. No one should not think their words are OPEN to EVERYONE, 'cause they are. I'm against the ACLU on this. I usually support them, I think, but this time NO.

Police, etc. shouldn't need a warrant for Social Media.
Click to expand...
It's the Dark Web that needs to be watched. Police have their ways for penetrating criminal organisations that think they are safe fom surveillance.r
 
I was curious about this aspect of police using social media, so I googled this question

Have police ignored signs of a violent attack on social media

There is a variety of responses of Police having info yet ignoring. Just a sample.

The FBI said it failed to act on a tip about the suspected
Feb 16, 2018 — The FBI ignored a warning that 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz might attack ... People who knew Cruz said he had a violent past, made threatening
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com › news › 2018/02/16

FBI and Homeland Security ignored 'massive amount' of ...
AP News
Associated Press News: Breaking News | Latest News Today › article
Jun 27, 2023 — ... violence and keep our communities safe.” The FBI said in a separate response that since the attack it has increased focus on “swift ...

And even info about police not being the best they can be documented on social media

Cops' troubling Facebook posts revealed | In Plain View

Injustice Watch
Injustice Watch › interactives › cops-t...
Cops Around The Country Are Posting Racist And Violent Comments On Facebook ... The same officer also made posts threatening lawbreakers with sexual assault and ...

IMO
Use of social media can work to thwart criminal activity IF followed in a way consistent with establish legal protocols
 

Knight said:
I was curious about this aspect of police using social media, so I googled this question

Have police ignored signs of a violent attack on social media

There is a variety of responses of Police having info yet ignoring. Just a sample.

The FBI said it failed to act on a tip about the suspected
Feb 16, 2018 — The FBI ignored a warning that 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz might attack ... People who knew Cruz said he had a violent past, made threatening
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com › news › 2018/02/16

FBI and Homeland Security ignored 'massive amount' of ...
AP News
Associated Press News: Breaking News | Latest News Today › article
Jun 27, 2023 — ... violence and keep our communities safe.” The FBI said in a separate response that since the attack it has increased focus on “swift ...

And even info about police not being the best they can be documented on social media

Cops' troubling Facebook posts revealed | In Plain View

Injustice Watch
Injustice Watch › interactives › cops-t...
Cops Around The Country Are Posting Racist And Violent Comments On Facebook ... The same officer also made posts threatening lawbreakers with sexual assault and ...

IMO
Use of social media can work to thwart criminal activity IF followed in a way consistent with establish legal protocols
Click to expand...

I think it's likely a case of staffing. You'd need thousands of individuals to truly police the net. However, with AI now breaking through, it's going to be much much easier and cheaper to seek things out. That's certainly a double-edged sword.
 
Sure! I believe that you can run and you can hide but the police will find you. There are many nut cases on social media and also there are crooks. Why side with the crooks unless your one of them!

I believe they should be locked up and the key thrown away.
 
Google maintains one of the of the world's most comprehensive repositories of location information. Police can and do issue search warrants for people who were in a neighborhood when a certain crime was committed or for anyone who searched the internet for equipment that was stolen at a certain time and location. To get leads from the Google data supplied to the police, officers have to rummage through results on people who have nothing to do with the crime. There is a huge volume of information about where millions of people have been and what they've searched for. Big Brother is indeed watching us!
 
When the Stanley Cup riots happened after the hockey game, the police found that they were pre-planned by leaders and messages had been sent out to invite people to them. The game loss was just an excuse for these guy to have fun vandalizing and stealing and others got caught up in it. Afterward the police searched media forums to track down these thugs. Now social media, etc is being watched ahead of time.
 
My neighbour, across the hallway from me and I had a bit of a chat this afternoon. He told me that he has received around 15 phone calls from some "nut" who says he can fix his computer. I told him to block the caller. This is obviously a rip off artists trying to get a worm or whatever they call it into his computer.

Just because you have not been a victim of crime, don't rest easy. As the population of this world grows, so do the number of crooks looking for means and ways to steal your money. It is only going to get worse.

I wish I could say that everything is wonderful out there in cyber space but hey, I do not wear rose-coloured glasses. Jesus may love you but the criminals of this world do not.



















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Yes!!!!!! In this world we live in, absolutely yes. No question whetsoever. Especially before January 6th. Police would have been better prepared. If that invades people's privacy, oh boo hoo! I don't care! We have to better monitor the hate rhetoric of these right wing extremists nut jobs. If we can save live, then so be it.
 
Not totally related, but I saw a news story yesterday that there are moves by some MP's in the UK to ban facial recognition systems. These are, just in case you're unaware, CCTV cameras that can read your face and then match you to people in its database, all in real time. Some stores in the UK have these to keep out shoplifters. If they catch someone, they take their picture and load it into the system, if they come back, the system alerts staff.

On the other hand, the Police use them during mass protests in order to find people who are wanted, which is right on the edge of nefarious. Yet part of me thinks, "yeah, but if there's someone causing bodily injury out here, I'd want to know, right?" While on the flip side, who knows who is in the database and for what reason?

Given the Police are currently trying to get access to the database that stores Passport photos, it's worrying to think they will be able to weed you out from a crowd on that basis. I know Russia has just been through a process of integrating it's governmental databases in order to ensure their citizens can't avoid the draft, you can likely envision a lot of issues there.
 
They say "Crime makes ya stupid" and there are a lot of stupid criminals who post what they are about to do or have done on social media. Some of them have been caught as a result. So I see nothing wrong with accessing social media to catch criminals as long as it is done soley for the intended purpose.
 

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