Police detectives are about to receive in depth training in how to use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to track down criminals and hunt for clues related to specific crimes.
With the rise in popularity of social media, the police are often expected to investigate crimes through these sites, without any previous training on social media websites.
However that’s all set to change thanks to a new training scheme introduced by the National Policing Improvements Agency (NPIA). Approximately 3,500 detectives undergo training with the NPIA every year which aims to bring police training up to date with the modern world.
The training scheme aims to equip detectives with the techniques and knowledge to tackle web based crimes, and also search for clues in order to track down potential suspects, and gather other vital information from web based data. The NPIA say the teaching will enable the detectives to “tackle the challenges and complexities of modern policing effectively.”
As well as studying social media sites such as Bebo, Facebook and Twitter, the training will also cover mobile phone devices and CCTV.
Many Facebook users are quite free with the information they share on social network sites so police are confident this is an avenue which could potentially lead them to tracking down criminals quickly and efficiently.
Leave a Reply