Could Facebook Become a Social Policing Tool
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In Queenstown New Zealand a young burglar is sitting red-faced after images of himself trying to break into a safe, posted on Facebook by the local police, led to his arrest.
“The offender was identified after a movie and images of him were displayed on Facebook,” the police claim on their own page on the site.
Apparently footage of the young man was captured on a hidden security camera while trying to break into the safe of a local tavern. Getting too hot in the process he foolishly removed his balaclava, revealing his face.
In a similar case in Australia last year, a restaurateur, Peter Leary, undertook a bit of investigative work using Facebook as a tool to track down some customers who had bolted without paying their bill.
Mr Leary remembered that one of the diners had enquired after a former waitress. He called her and she suggested they do a search on Facebook. Coming up trumps they found a picture that included two of the bill dodgers, a man and his girlfriend, and where they worked.
The two were tracked down to another restaurant where they were both employed and Leary informed the manager of that restaurant about their behaviour. Within hours they had paid the $520 bill. And been sacked.
“On this occasion I guess you could say that being on Facebook backfired for them,” Mr Leary said.
With 90 million members Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world. It may just become a pretty useful investigative tool too!
