CorpComms Magazine

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has created a new department in a bid to put a stop to the rise in criminal 'bragging' on social media.

The new unit will search for information on social media platforms relating to pre-planned criminal activity, and for evidence of crimes that have already happened that will lead them directly to the criminals.

The NYPD will target Facebook, Twitter and MySpace which all provide a platform where information can go viral in minutes. These channels allow criminals to warn one another as to the whereabouts of police, or share details of planned operations.

The new NYPD department aims to put a stop to those who share potentially dangerous information on social networking sites, and has already proven successful. For example 18 year old Anthony Collao was murdered in an anti-gay attack at a house party that he advertised on Facebook in March. One of those responsible was found and arrested after boasting about the fatal attack on Facebook. 

The new police department will now attempt to track all house parties that are posted to the social networking site, in a bid to avoid similar attacks and crimes. 

The new initiative may prove of interest to police in the UK following the wave of recent riots that were allegedly organised via Twitter and BlackBerry instant messaging.

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