"Police Lesson"

We all know about a lot of the positive benefits of social networks like Twitter and Facebook.  But what people don't often think about until its too late, is the other ramifications such sites can have.  When individuals are suspected of criminal activity, social sites are added to the list of of things the police (or other officials) check.

Social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter can be valuable assets for law enforcement agencies, helping them alert the public, seek information about crimes and gather evidence about the backgrounds of criminal suspects. 

But, in some cases this double-edged sword can also get the police in trouble.  After one police officer was involved in a fatal shooting the local news stations went to his Facebook page for reference.  There he had listed his occupation as "human waste disposal."  In another instance, the Santa Monica police department went to great lengths to conceal an injured officers identity and location, only to have it revealed on Facebook.  It is also a tool used by lawyers and can be used against police officers.

Defense lawyers increasingly scour social networking sites for evidence that could impeach a police officer’s testimony. In one case in New York, a jury dismissed a weapons charge against a defendant after learning that the arresting officer had listed his mood on MySpace as “devious” and wrote on Facebook that he was watching the film “Training Day” to “brush up on proper police procedure.”

Social networking sites are not only used by officials to regulate and check on the masses, but also to watch over the the same officials.  

Information for this article came from a New York Times report