Police Leverage Facebook to Track Criminals

According to a 2012 LexisNexis Risk Solutions survey of federal, state and local law enforcement officials, four out of five officers say they’ve used social media to gather information during their investigations, reports CNN. At least half say they check social media at least once per week in conjunction with an open case, and the majority report that social media helps them solve crimes faster.

As anyone who has tracked down a long-lost high school crush knows, social media can be a treasure trove for information. And even if suspects keep the information their pages private, friends and family members may not be as savvy. For example, police say that drug dealers have been known to make seemingly innocent public updates about their location (“at the mall shopping” or “making a grocery run”) that are designed to give clients a head’s up about their location. Unfortunately for the drug dealers, this public information makes it easy for police to track down their sales.

Once the police obtain sufficient evidence for a subpoena or warrant, they can compel Facebook to give them private access to a user’s account. For example, when police suspected a Minnesota man of talking to underage girls, detectives first had to obtain a warrant in order to get Facebook to turn over data associated with the mans’ profile. Police used the private profile in court to obtain a conviction; the man, Darrin Anderson, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.