Should The Police Be Using The Internet To Fight Crime?
We recently heard news that Police in Manchester have become one of the first to set-up a page on social networking site Facebook, with the intention of catching more criminals and fighting crime. However, there seems to be a growing feeling that there are risks with this approach with some not sure that it is the correct route to take. Will cyber police ever really take off?
Before we get into the reasons for and against the proposed service, let us not forget that the authorities are already snooping on our phone calls, our emails and in many case our post. The fact that there will actually be a ?physical? presence online now is probably a little bit of a red herring. But will it work?
As we all know, from 10 years old up to 110 years old, the internet is taking more and more of a hold on our daily lives, our daily routines and in many cases is taking over our lives! There are very few houses in the UK which do not have an internet connection with users aged from the early years up to later years. What better way to try and grab the attention of the masses when crimes are committed and criminals are on the loose?
In a perfect world the internet is the type of tool which will definitely make the public more aware of what is going on and give them their very own ?cyber police station? to visit when required. However, there is also the problem of mistakes which can and do happen…..
Can you imagine if your face or your name was mistakenly shown on the police Facebook page for a crime(s) you did not commit? Can you imagine if you mistakenly became involved in some investigation into crimes against children?
The internet can and will help the police, but there need to be strong safeguards in place to ensure that errors and mistakes are kept to an absolute minimum!
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