NY- The NYPD and other police departments are forming social media units to monitor citizens.
The NYPD has formed a new unit to track troublemakers who announce plans or brag about their crimes on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.
Newly named Assistant Commissioner Kevin O'Connor, one of the department's online and gang gurus, has been put in charge of the new juvenile justice unit. He and his staff will mine social media, looking for info about troublesome house parties, gang showdowns and other potential mayhem, sources said.
CONROE, TX. - Facebook is doing more than keeping people connected. In Conroe, it's helping police to fight crime.
The Conroe Police Department has only been using Facebook for two months and officers tell us their new Facebook friends are already helping them catch crooks.
Facebook is known as a hot spot for people to catch up with friends and it's become a hot, new crime fighting tool for Conroe police.
"It works. The witnesses are looking at it and they are giving us information," said Sgt. Joe Smart of the Conroe Police Department.
Sergeant Smart says Conroe police have been using its Facebook page to profile suspects and criminals since May -- like a woman accused of stealing credit cards, masked gunmen caught on tape burglarizing a local store and a suspected computer thief, who the department's Facebook friends just helped police catch.
"We put the video on our Facebook page and within a week, a citizen appeared and said, 'Hey I know who that is,'" said Sgt. Smart.
Links:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/08/10/2011-08-10_nypd_forms_new_social_media_unit_to_mine_facebook_and_twitter_for_mayhem.html
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8271766