It used to be that New Jersey's cops only made the news for such charming activities as letting a grinning Christie Whitman frisk an inner city black youth. Now, I'm not saying the cops are no longer engaging in racially biased activities. The NAACP just this week called for a special prosecutorto look into charges of racial basis by the Gloucester County Prosecutor. No, "driving while black" is still unfortunately a potential crime in New Jersey.
However, it's no longer the only newsworthy actions taken by New Jersey police departments. They've also recently begun making the news for the adept use of Facebook and Twitter in fighting crime.
Meanwhile, South Carolina is continuing its crusade against Craigslist
In New Jersey, police have been creating fake identities and friending suspects to get access to their "private" dealings. And "junior crimestoppers" can now follow police reports of crimes on Twitter and help spot crimes/criminals.
Police created fake identities to enter the social networking site and found what Fair Lawn High School students were going.
Officers stopped the caravan a few miles from the high school and arrested four 17-year-old boys who officers say were carrying marijuana, scales and baggies commonly used to package the drug.
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Police Sgt. Derek Bastinck says teenagers are caviler about accepting people into their network of friends.
I've probably been too cavalier about accepting friends myself. I've been friended by way too many Kossacks (at least I hope they are Kossacks; it seems that way based on the friends we have in common) who I could not identify with their username. I'd probably be worried if I engaged in any illegal activities.
Of course, smoking marijuana should hardly be the police's #1 concern on prom night (or other nights, for that matter); alcohol is far more dangerous because it often tends to lead to drunk driving and (sometimes) tragic accidents.
Far more interesting has been the New Jersey State Police (and more recently, other local police departments) use of Twitter.
The New Jersey State Police began using Twitter in January to get information to the news media without having to call 30 reporters individually, said Sgt. Stephen Jones.
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The account was set to private, but so many Twitter users wanted to get the updates, Jones opened it to the public. The state police now has more than 750 followers.
But Twitter's character limit has been a challenge, Jones admits.
"We just have to forgo the formalities of the language and just get things in the parlance of the younger generation to abbreviate," he said
Or, in other words ...
452PM another turkey thru windshield! 287 s/b pequanic. Minor inj from glass. Dvr to chilton hosp. Wt lexus suv. Hitchcock was a prophet!
6:45 PM May 8th from txt
Tprs not able to release ID of robber yet. Intrvws available at Woodbine station. Gr8 job by the troops.
3:51 PM May 8th from txt
3pm. Woodbine tprs flagged by homeowner who found note in house from bank robbery. K9 tprs went into house & caught subject. Takn to Wdbine.
Sacrifices indeed. Alfred Hitchcock himself would probably be appalled at the language use. But it's paid off.
Sgt. Jones says, in this digital age when the media and the public want instant access to information, sending "tweets"--or short messages no longer than 140 characters--makes sense. And it's already paid off.
One message he sent out on Twitter helped locate a hit and run driver.
"Within, probably, a matter of minutes it got onto some of the blog sites and people actually saw, somebody called in, saying 'I've seen a vehicle that fits that description.'"
Things are a bit different in South Carolina. As I wrote about two weeks ago, Attorney General Henry McMaster has been seeking to rid South Carolina of the scourge of prostitution.
Craigslist capitulated to his (and other AGs) demands last Tuesday
Craigslist, after weeks of mounting pressure from law enforcement officers nationwide, said yesterday it eliminated its erotic services section and promised to manually review every ad posted to a new adult services section it has created.
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As of Tuesday night, Craigslist stopped accepting erotic services listings for US cities, and all remaining ads will expire within seven days. The new adult section bans ads suggesting or implying an exchange of sexual favors for money, and nude pornographic images or images suggestive of an offer of sexual favors are also prohibited.
"We're trying to strike a balance," Craigslist chief executive Jim Buckmaster said yesterday. "We've gotten a lot of feedback on this issue
Or so it seemed.
But that wasn't good enough for Henry McMaster.
McMaster wasn’t satisfied. On Friday, he reiterated his threat , saying the South Carolina portion of the site still displayed ads for prostitution. “We have no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution,” McMaster wrote on his site.
On Monday morning, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster fired back, in an open letter to McMaster posted to his blog. Buckmaster demanded an apology
We'll see what happens with that. One wonders, for instance, whether federal, state or case law says anything about who has jurisdiction in a situation like this.
I haven't seen anything on the subject, but this may be as much because it's a relatively untested area of law as anything else.
Should it go to court, I'm sure we'll find out.