UK Police To Get Facebook Lessons 63
jhernik writes "The police are to receive training on how to use Facebook and Twitter to catch people committing serious crimes. The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) will overhaul its training modules to include sessions on the social networking sites for detectives. 'This programme is a vital part of the career pathway for detectives and the new training covers sensitive areas of policing where limited guidance existed previously,' said deputy chief constable Nick Gargan, acting head of the NPIA, in a statement to the Press Association. 'These improvements are exactly what detectives need to tackle the challenges and complexities of modern policing effectively,' he added. 'The changes underline the importance to having a national agency to provide guidance and train detectives to a single high standard so they can work on investigations in any part of the country and give their colleagues and the public the best quality service in fighting crime.'"
Be the first of your friends... (Score:2)
"You LIKE this"
Well... (Score:2)
This new development should have some effect on the reduction of free-roaming individuals mentioned in your sig.
On the other hand, according to mine, actual effects will be purely cosmetic.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Funny but it seems that a good portion of those stupid people are either writing laws or enforcing them.
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Did you just question authority figures? Everyone (except for terrorists and juvenile delinquents, of course) knows that authority figures are always right and should never be questioned!
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Nah, just their puppets.
I'd beg to differ... (Score:2)
IMHO, those writing "stupid" laws rarely posses the necessary level of stupidity required for creating SUCH levels of fuckup.
Laws like that are more often the result of naivete and incompetence/ignorance than stupidity or malice.
And it would be rather difficult for a person with such qualities to single-handedly come into position where he/she would be able to create laws.
ALSO, laws tend not to be written or passed by a single person.
So, the "stupidity" doesn't have to be the product of one person or even a
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Ok, ok. Let me amend my statement.
Funny but it seems that a good portion of those stupid people are either in charge of creating laws or enforcing them.
Ok, yeah, that still doesn't quite get it.
I don't think it's naivete or incompetence but definitely ignorance, greed, or maliciousness.
Consider this: It's naive to think DRM won't negatively affect legitimate purchasers and will stop piracy but it's incom
Re: (Score:2)
Consider this: It's naive to think DRM won't negatively affect legitimate purchasers and will stop piracy but it's incompetent to outlaw breaking DRM and malicious to shut down internet connections based on mere accusations of piracy.
Please.
If anyone, RIAA and its cohorts have shown us how truly malicious they can actually be - when they REALLY get into it.
Every single one of their acts reeks with incompetence first and foremost.
Sure, their final motives can be perceived as malicious when you take any point of view other than "making money for people who employ them" but they are so bad at even sticking to that.
There should be room for discretion and leniency as well as shame and punishment.
You might say that that's already a problem as people on the bottom of the financial totem pole get hammered by the law while people on top have their lawyers apologize and they go about their merry ways and I would agree with you.
Oh, the problem's been brewing for a long time now and it is only now that stories about rich people "getting away with it" spr
Discretion (Score:3, Interesting)
Perhaps people will stop posting incriminating evidence, but something tells me those photos of people plastered aren't going away.
Re:Discretion (Score:4, Insightful)
Police catch people, because people are dumb. It's not going to change.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Dark Helmet? Is that you?
Re: (Score:1)
Police catch people, because people are dumb. It's not going to change.
So that means when Police fail to catch them, they were either the likes of Stephen Hawking, or there have been lots of dumb recruitments in the force.
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No it means that they get lucky. Catching criminals is all about a criminal making mistakes so you can follow them. The dumber they are, the easier.
Its a good thing (Score:2)
Hey, maybe this'll encourage people to actually take privacy seriously. I'm pretty sure this'll never happen.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
That this method can't be foiled by simply changing the privacy settings or... say... not posting this sort of evidence in there.
They should still catch people who take those precautions, it will just require more time and resources.
But part of the job of police is to catch perps as quickly as possible, and that includes investigating the fruitful types of avenues that are easiest to investigate first. Most criminals are stupid and if joined to a social network will reveal some HINT authorities could u
Right... (Score:3, Insightful)
"serious crimes" like uploading a picture of your friend smoking weed, or your "5 days shy of 18" girlfriend in her underwear.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The girlfriend might have a thing or two to say.
Don't worry about that. (Score:5, Funny)
She'll calm down once he sends her some shit for her farm.
Re:Right... (Score:5, Insightful)
The age of consent is 16 in many places in the US too. It's still illegal to take explicit pictures of anyone under 18. Fuck her all you want, but take a picture and you're going to jail.
dumb people call radio shows and say they rob bank (Score:3, Interesting)
Some dumb people have called radio shows and say they robed a bank. So you can want to be able to use that in court and not have the case drooped as the cop did not do things right in getting the evidence.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Some dumb people have called radio shows and say they robed a bank.
I'd like to see that - it'd have to be a pretty big robe. Was there a wizard hat too?
So you can want to be able to use that in court and not have the case drooped as the cop did not do things right in getting the evidence.
Yeah, it's always embarrasing when your case starts to droop.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Weed really isn't a huge deal in the UK, where this story is from. If a cop catches you with some, they will "arrest and then de-arrest" you at the side of the road/in the pub/wherever you are and give you a street caution for it, then just confiscate the stuff. If you clearly have enough to be a dealer, they will arrest you properly. Having enough for personal use on you is just not all that serious at all - the cops just don't have the time to be dealing with that petty crap.
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Was that in the British press?
That well known source of objective coverage of UK events.
It's really not as bad as the Daily Fail and others like to make out.
I can see it now (Score:1)
@Criminal ur nicked
News at 11 (Score:2)
People are stupid and the law uses that against them. News at 11.
A picture doesn't prove anything... (Score:4, Insightful)
Unless it's clearly child porn -
But it's total bullshit if any cops anywhere think they can arrest people for looking drunk, or being seen in a photo with a bottle of booze even if they're underage - or a photo of someone smoking something out of a bong or pipe - there is no way they could prove what the substance was, and while I am not sure about the UK, in the US our legal system hasn't eroded to that point yet, I am sure it probably will as we continue our descent into fascism and away from the rule of law.
it's bad enough that people think that the system works how it oes on TV and it's a hell of a rude awakening when you find out just how ridiculously fucked up it really is as it stands now.
Re:A picture doesn't prove anything... (Score:5, Insightful)
There's more to being a detective than finding evidence that would be admissible in court. Social networking is likely a good place to find useful leads, or might be solid enough to obtain a search warrant.
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Not to mention that someone can always frame you with some clever hacking.
If someone can plant kiddie porn on your PC, imagine how easy it will be to plant it on your FB account.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
But it's total bullshit if any cops anywhere think they can arrest people for looking drunk, or being seen in a photo with a bottle of booze even if they're underage - or a photo of someone smoking something out of a bong or pipe - there is no way they could prove what the substance was, and while I am not sure about the UK, in the US our legal system hasn't eroded to that point yet, I am sure it probably will as we continue our descent into fascism and away from the rule of law.
Wow. All this is a story about how cops are going to be taught about what Facebook is and how it works (and in another country, no less!) - and that's enough to make you wax paranoid about "our descent into fascism"? Dude, you really need to take a chill pill, and perhaps see a doctor.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
I think people are getting the wrong end of the stick. This isn't to catch people for petty offences, it'll be used to do things like check alibis, see who people are in contact with "I don't know the bloke!" "But you're a friend on Facebook, sir", etc.
People have been arrested here in the UK for showing guns in their Facebook profiles, stupid things like that. There's even the guy who famously escaped from prison (or while on bail or somesuch) and brazenly posted on Facebook for a good week or two.
Social
I thought /. was fast... (Score:1)
Uh oh. (Score:5, Funny)
I hope they don't find the bodies that I buried on my Farmville.
Re: (Score:1)
I hope they don't find the bodies that I buried on my Farmville.
"Yes, your honor, we not only have a confession from Mr. Interoperable about his multiple murders, but we have conclusive proof of his Wars with the Mafia."
Hmmm... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Are They Really That Stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe its more like How to use FB without destroying your case or How to use the special police interfaces into FB.
Re:Are They Really That Stupid (Score:5, Informative)
covering such things as
1 beginning a chain of evidence (and keeping it intact)
2 creating a useable record of the page(s)
3 how to get the info you need without blowing your cover or tripping the entrapment trap
4 properly citing the pages in reports
ect
lazy cops (Score:2)
Dang, the cops are so lazy in the UK they don't even walk a beat
or
Damn, the cops are so cool in the UK because they like to surf.
okay, sorry, i would be funnier, but i got arrested for a pic of me smoking weed on facebook and the cops came over and "confiscated" my stash.
Re: (Score:2)
UK cops really don't care about personal use of weed. They'll take it off you if they find it on you during the course of a search for another offence (a weapons check, for example), but they aren't going to specifically go after you for it. Just not worth the time.
List them as a friend (Score:1)
Wonder how that would work!
We know what you did, we read about it on Facebook (Score:1)
YHGTBFKM (Score:1)
A criminal's Journal in Facebook (Score:1)
Just a funny thought, maybe they also need learn about Mafia Wars too. But seriously I think this is actually a good idea. Some crimes are even commited right inside Facebook like blackmailing.
Like
Added as friend
=)
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