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Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

thenextweb.com

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Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#21

Post by benjamincburns »

The police department in my home town (Utica, NY) has been posting arrest photos on Facebook for a couple of years now. I wish there were data to determine whether or not it was having an impact, and what kinds of impacts it's having.

Most people I know are pretty disgusted by it. They feel that publicizing arrests is fueling an already ripe negative PR image against the city and that posting arrest photos in a very public place leads people to assume that the arrested are guilty before they are convicted.

At the same time however, think of the deterrent it is to "young punk" type criminals to have their mugshot posted in a public forum for all of their friends/family to see and for their neighbor's comments.

I wonder if those who made arrest records (not conviction) public record would have done so in light of these kinds of developments.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/City-of-Utica-NY-Police-Depar...

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#22

Post by engtech »

The craziest thing about looking through the warrants is the amount of charges that are either about property or drugs.

The media focuses so much on violence and sexual assault that I thought there would be more violent offenders in the mugshots.

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#23

Post by genwin »

benjamincburns wrote: post #21

The police department in my home town (Utica, NY) has been posting arrest photos on Facebook for a couple of years now. I wish there were data to determine whether or not it was having an impact, and what kinds of impacts it's having. Most people I know are pretty disgusted by it. They feel that publicizing arrests is fueling an already ripe negative PR image against the city and that posting arrest photos in a very…

In the US, businesses can legally reject employment based on an arrest record. In France it's illegal to post arrest records where there's no conviction; probably wanted posters are an exception though.

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#24

Post by pgroves »

gk1 wrote: post #19
manaskarekar wrote: post #14

"The tip line has been ringing off the hook. In fact, Drumheller says some people even called in to say they had seen their own mugshot online and have asked to turn themselves in to authorities." What the fuck?

Some people may not realize there's a warrant out for them.

The implication being that the police aren't doing a very good job of contacting people about warrants. The first they're hearing about it is by seeing themselves on Pinterest. Imagine the number of increased arrests if the police started using email.

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#25

Post by polyfractal »

wazari972 wrote: post #4

I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to upvote this post, if I do, does it mean I support the idea behind ? because I don't, I don't think that denunciation is right way to support justice ... but I'd like the post to go to the front page, the see HN comments about it!

Technically, upvoting an article merely means you think it is interesting, not that you support it. So you can in good conscious upvote this article if it is interesting and you want to see the discussion.

Unfortunately, most people treat up/downvotes as "agree/disagree", which is not actually the intended purpose. I routinely upvote quality comments even if I disagree with them, because the author has shared some interesting/well supported insight that provokes conversation (regardless of my personal feeling towards it)

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#26

Post by sparky_z »

CJefferson wrote: post #13
downandout wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what I said. I said that pursuing relatively minor cases (which I would not include in your example) more aggressively than we already do will serve only to tie up the justice system and make it more difficult to prosecute more serious offenses because all of the resources will be expended on a massive influx of first time DUI's and minor drug possession cases.

You said "dangerous fugitives". I suppose it depends on your definition (and obviously we vary), but I wouldn't consider a burglar to be a dangerous fugitive.

Why not? Just because a successful burglar hasn't used force before doesn't mean they won't if something goes wrong on a job. Anybody actively breaking in to other people's homes is providing the potential for a violent situation (even if its just "self defense" against a surprised homeowner).

I'm not saying that all burglars are violent thugs, but from a law enforcement perspective, the time to make that distinction is after apprehension, not before. (The obvious exception being criminals with a known history of violence, in which case additional precautions can and should be taken.)

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#27

Post by flyinRyan »

weego wrote: post #5
downandout wrote: post #2

Something tells me that this will not be accompanied by a 57% decrease in crime rates, but will absolutely be accompanied by a 57% increase in imprisonment and legal expenditures to detain and prosecute these people. An argument can be made that, except in the case of dangerous fugitives, using a more efficient means of finding wanted people may cause more harm than good.

So you are suggesting that some laws aren't worth upholding because they aren't financially viable?

Well, ideally laws that don't make sense to enforce (e.g. drug laws) wouldn't even exist in the first place. Failing that, not enforcing them would be the next sensible step.

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#28

Post by pc86 »

gk1 wrote: post #19
manaskarekar wrote: post #14

"The tip line has been ringing off the hook. In fact, Drumheller says some people even called in to say they had seen their own mugshot online and have asked to turn themselves in to authorities." What the fuck?

Some people may not realize there's a warrant out for them.

Exactly; the whole reason they're on this site is that the police can't find them. It's reasonable to believe a decent percentage of them would have no idea that they're wanted.

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#29

Post by Adirael »

DanBC wrote: post #17
crikli wrote: post #3

Blog spam, inaccurate headline. Original article on npr: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/12/07/166678... The boost was in 57% of "warrant services" whatever that means, not arrests. No numbers given for the increase in arrests, just that they "actually got more people."

Thank you for that. The Pinterest page is here ( http://pinterest.com/themercury/wanted-by-police/ ) I'd be interested to see if Google (or anyone) tried their face recognition on these photos and provide information to the police.

Muddy waters. What if (when) they fire a false positive?

Re: Local police post mugshots on Pinterest, leading to a 57% boost in arrests

#30

Post by benjamincburns »

genwin wrote: post #23
benjamincburns wrote: post #21

The police department in my home town (Utica, NY) has been posting arrest photos on Facebook for a couple of years now. I wish there were data to determine whether or not it was having an impact, and what kinds of impacts it's having. Most people I know are pretty disgusted by it. They feel that publicizing arrests is fueling an already ripe negative PR image against the city and that posting arrest photos in a very…

In the US, businesses can legally reject employment based on an arrest record. In France it's illegal to post arrest records where there's no conviction; probably wanted posters are an exception though.

I don't know if that's universally true in the US. Most labor laws such as these are set on a state (and sometimes local) level, so it's kind of a hodge-podge. For example, in Louisiana it's still legal to discriminate on the basis of sexuality, but not age, race, gender, or disability. But then in Orleans Parish (parishes are counties in Louisiana) it's not legal to discriminate on the basis of sexuality.

I'm not a lawyer though, and I have no idea what the federal law says regarding arrest vs conviction records. I do know that I've filled out numerous employment applications in many states that required me to disclose convictions of misdemeanor or worse crimes, but never any that have asked about an arrest record.

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