On MySpace and YouTube pages, a man who identified himself as Jared Loughner posted anti-government messages that talked about mind control and suggested he would soon adopt a new consciousness. In the hours immediately preceding his attack on Giffords and others, Loughner posted to his MySpace account, “Goodbye… Dear friends … Please don’t be mad at me.”
Another Arizona murder suspect, David “Nick” Delich, sent threatening MySpace messages to former friends and posted a blog that said, “Soon, I plan to kill many police officers,” and posted photos of handguns and assault rifles he owned. A few months later, Delich admitted to shooting and killing Tucson police officer Erik Hite.
Such portentous entries may not be discovered in time to prevent a tragic crime, but police agencies worldwide would be wise to monitor social networks during outbreaks of widespread violence. The British government expressed concern about the use of Twitter and Blackberry’s instant messaging to incite last summer’s riots and looting sprees in London. While little can be done to prevent the surge of electronic chatter in this type of situation, London police responded with increased patrols at targeted hot spots. In the aftermath, two men were imprisoned for four years for their part in orchestrating the civil unrest.
The New York City Police Department has reportedly established a social media unit to mine a variety of online networks for signs of illegal activity, as well as clues to aid investigations. Sifting through the sea of publicly accessible online information makes for straightforward, albeit tedious, investigative work. Knowing where the next open house party will be held helps officers keep an eye on raucous crowds and stave off violent acts. Using facial recognition software to match a suspect with an online profile aids convictions.
But not all criminals so blatantly expose themselves online. Just as cops for decades have gone undercover to catch the neighborhood flasher, rapist, or drug dealer, some departments now go undercover online to catch underage drinkers and child predators.
Deb Shinder, owner and CEO of TACteam and an expert on network security, openly expresses concern about the ethical quandaries of police online activities. “Should policies and guidelines regarding police behavior be different online than in traditional investigative situations? And if so, how?”
For years, police have created fake online profiles posing as minors to lure unsuspecting pedophiles out from behind their computer screens. With the pedophile community growing ever more adept at circumventing such traps, few would dispute the desirability of using such ploys to place child predators behind bars. Similarly, some campus police departments have taken to creating fake profiles in order to “friend” college students, copy photos of campus parties, and then slap the cuffs on coeds for underage drinking. Some would call this entrapment; others call it routine undercover work.
It may take a few years for case law on computer crimes and the means by which computer investigations are handled to evolve. Keeping abreast of each will only prove more challenging as the technology becomes more sophisticated.
“For many people, there is a disconnect between the online and physical worlds,” notes Shinder. “And they behave very differently when they don their online personas. Mostly the perceived anonymity changes behavior for the worse-we see people who would never be rude to someone in ‘real life’ engaging in flame wars, people who never physically cheated on their spouses having virtual affairs, and so forth.”
An internal review by the Vancouver Police Department following the 2011 Stanley Cup riot found that social media was instrumental in encouraging members of the crowd to engage in violence and lawlessness. As stated in the report, “The 2011 riot can be distinguished as perhaps the first North American social media sports riot and the acting out for the cameras seen in the 1994 riot was multiplied many times more in the 2011 riot by the thousands of people cheering the rioters on and recording the riot with handheld cameras and phones.”
Shinder notes that the reverse may also be true. “People who are brash or unpleasant offline become much more circumspect when they know it’s all ‘on the record,’ perhaps to survive for decades on someone’s server somewhere.”
Police departments will continue to exploit social media in new and more creative ways to enhance investigations.
In the meantime, visitation of Websites such as Facebook and MySpace will expand beyond criminal investigations. From profiling prospective jurors to a review of a complainant’s Website content, various facets of the judicial system can see where ideological hands have been tilted and where true agendas lie. MySpace content has been used as a determinant factor in criminal sentencing based upon the attitudes articulated through defendants’ posts.
There are other concerns, as well. Arrests generated through social networks may inspire retaliatory attacks against law enforcement agencies. Already, the Websites and e-mail accounts of several law enforcement agencies and officials have been taken over by hackers sympathetic to others within their ranks who have been taken into custody.
One thing is sure. In its continued pursuit of the bad guy, the long arm of the law will continue to reach out into the cyberworld.
Related Articles:
- Child Sexual Abuse: It’s More Prevalent Than You Think
- College Police on the Lookout for Loughner Prior to Shooting
- Is Your Campus Prepared for Flash Mobs?
- Changing Game Day Culture
- 6 Ways to Communicate with Millennials About Social Networking
- Your Ultimate Guide to Student & School Internet Safety: Part 1 and Part 2
Dean Scoville is an editor for Police Magazine.
Photo by Mark W. Clar
