You Have The Right To Remain Social


Published Oct 11, 2012 at 04:16 PM | 1,034 views

CSI has taken a backseat to the likes of social media when it comes to the investigation of many crimes. Many gangs from New York have turned to Facebook and Twitter to boast of their violence. "Rockstarz up 3-0" was a reference one suspect made to brag about the body count of one recent gang war.

More officers are being hired to roam Facebook than the streets, searching for clues and evidence that could lead to the next arrest. Law enforcement have even tapped into the GPS tracking of social media posts in order to create a crime scene map.

Even under cover cops are finding themselves creating fake profiles and "friend requesting" suspects in order to gain access to their profile and potentially unlock information that could lead to the criminal's future arrest. This does create some legal dilemmas as police are using deceit to capture information of known criminals.
In most cases thus far, judges have almost unanimously sided with the prosecutors to allow such information.