Be careful about what you post online
I often advise my clients to be careful about what they post online because oftentimes the Government’s best witness is the defendant him/herself. Almost as a matter of routine in any standard investigation, law enforcement will peruse MySpace, Facebook, and other “social media” sites to snoop around for information about defendants or the infamous “subjects of interest.” The Tennessean has an article discussing this relatively new way that police are watching what you’re doing, or at least what you’re foolish enough to post online.
Nashville cops throw the (Face)book at ‘em | tennessean.com | The Tennessean
Metro police have started using social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube as investigative tools, resources they say are becoming more and more useful in catching criminals and gathering evidence against them.
Haney, a 22-year police veteran, says the photo collection is just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of photos like these sit in police computer files, he said.
Related* Police use YouTube to make 4 drag racing arrests
“Not only does it refresh our memory having the pictures posted, but people who come in recognize certain people in those pictures and they give us information,” Haney said.
The investigator spends anywhere from 30 minutes to more than two hours online surfing social media sites at least twice a week. Police say information they have pulled from the sites has helped with criminal investigations, but they would not give specifics since the practice is less than two years old and the cases are still pending in the judicial system.
