Teens’ Online Postings Are New Tool For Police
User information posted at the Website MySpace.com has helped law enforcement with a number of investigations. Police investigators have gathered evidence from the site in criminal cases that have included drug and gun charges. For example, pictures posted by a 16-year-old boy on the Website were used to help convict him of a weapons charge in a Colorado court because they showed him in possession of firearms.
Concerns about the safety of young people posting on the site have grown because of cases involving some users preying on children.
MySpace has a small investigative team that cooperates with police in up to 150 investigations each month involving the site.
Some critics of making arrests based on threats made online say that young people sometimes use the medium to pull pranks without intention of harming others. However, police have arrested young people for making violent threats on MySpace.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Boston Globe (05/15/06); Davis, Wendy .
