NYPD sets up social media unit amid London riots

New unit aims to stop youth-led crimes before they happen by scouring Facebook and Twitter

How was this not already protocol?

The New York Police Department has formed a new unit to scour social media sites for information related to past, present and future crimes, according to NYDailyNews.com.

We have not yet received official comment from the NYPD.

Focusing specifically on juvenile justice, the unit will be headed by newly appointed Assistant Commissioner Kevin O’Connor, who has 23 years of experience policing, some of it involving online work.

O’Connor’s new unit, according to NYDailyNews.com, will be scanning sites like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for anything that will lead them to “troublesome house parties, gang showdowns and other potential mayhem.” Social media sites make sense to target, since young people (troublemakers or not) are well-known to use the sites to a great extent.

Some criminals aren’t always the brightest about their law-breaking, so it should come as no surprise that some have bragged publicly about their crimes on Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, as in the case of aimlessly destructive riots, there are times where witnesses report on wrongdoing over social media.

Creation of a social media-targeted unit comes at an interesting time. Reeling from chaotic riots in London sometimes coordinated by social media and mobile communication, U.K. prime minister David Cameron says the British government is debating “whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality”.

Though Facebook and Twitter were largely credited with organizing efforts in the Arab Spring revolutions, reports have widely confirmed that BlackBerry Messenger proved the medium of choice for London’s rioters.

Either way, Cameron and his fellow officials will likely need to tread lightly when considering silencing communication networks, as a rash decision could erupt a firestorm: after all, this all comes down to free speech. When people’s livelihoods are in danger, however, it all gets a little more complicated.

No word yet on whether the new NYPD unit will bother checking Google+ and other social media sites not yet in the mainstream.

image source.