When Cops Check Facebook
"America's police are using social media to fight crime, a practice that raises troubling questions.
In 2012, Brooklyn police officer Michael Rodrigues arrested a burglary gang, the Brower Boys, by adding gang members as friends on Facebook.
The day of the arrest was like gathering the lowest-hanging fruit. 'It’s break-in day on the avenue,' one gang member posted in his status
message. Officer Rodrigues and colleagues tracked the gang members to
the avenue in question. They photographed the young men committing the
crime, and then arrested them....
...Social media can produce evidence in some cases, but it also fails to
capture the complexity of human relationships—and can sometimes distort
them. For this reason, it is important to take care that social media
data is not misused or misinterpreted in the pursuit of justice."
Related article on Facebook's impact on the justice system
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