Stop or I’ll Twitter!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

About a month ago, I posted about the use of Twitter as a tool for law enforcement. This USA Today story demonstrates how police are increasingly experimenting with Twitter and other social media outlets to stop crime. From checkpoints to surveillance to drug raids, law enforcement is finding social media to be a valuable weapon against criminal behavior. The North Jersey Crime Examiner takes a look at the police perspective on this new found weapon and discloses that the FBI used Twitter at surveillance checkpoints during President Obama’s inauguration.

Imagine Twitter being used by bank tellers and others at risk to immediately notify local police dispatches of robberies and other criminal acts. “Stop or I will Twitter” might become a common refrain among law enforcement officers. This growing trend in policing deserves watching. I am sure the criminal mind will start finding ways to combat the police use of social media and new techniques will be developed to counteract them.