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

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

#31

Post by CJefferson »

sparky_z wrote: post #26
CJefferson wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I don't really want to get into an argument about semantics, but I feel there is a standard English definition of the term "dangerous fugitive", and it does not include a basic burglar. Googling for "dangerous fugitive" (not the perfect method, I know) shows multiple pages of people who are all suspected of already having committed a violent crime.

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

#32

Post by shardling »

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.

Well, in the US as a whole, businesses can generally reject employment for any reason, no matter how petty. There's a small, finite list of reasons that are illegal -- race, sex, and the like -- but these have to be specifically enshrined in the law.

Local governments can add their own laws on top of this, of course. Discrimination against sexual orientation has become illegal in many places within the US.

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

#33

Post by sanxiyn »

shardling wrote: post #32
genwin wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, in the US as a whole, businesses can generally reject employment for any reason, no matter how petty. There's a small, finite list of reasons that are illegal -- race, sex, and the like -- but these have to be specifically enshrined in the law. Local governments can add their own laws on top of this, of course. Discrimination against sexual orientation has become illegal in many places within the US.

If all else fails, there's always cultural fit.

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

#34

Post by hanleybrand »

flyinRyan wrote: post #27
weego wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Except that laws that deal with morality and other behaviors that people never agree on (drugs and alcohol, sex, public behaviors, etc.) are political suicide to repeal, so few legislators would ever be willing to try, so (fill in the blank) will be illegal in (fill in State) for the foreseeable future.

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

#35

Post by marshray »

shardling wrote: post #32
genwin wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, in the US as a whole, businesses can generally reject employment for any reason, no matter how petty. There's a small, finite list of reasons that are illegal -- race, sex, and the like -- but these have to be specifically enshrined in the law. Local governments can add their own laws on top of this, of course. Discrimination against sexual orientation has become illegal in many places within the US.

The letter of the law is one thing - the recommendations of HR lawyers to employers wanting to stay out of trouble are far more conservative. The advice I've heard is basically "don't do anything to create or discriminate against a 'protected class'". So even if it's not strictly against the law to decline to hire or promote people who wear blue shoes on Tuesdays, it's probably a bad idea to make such a policy without a strong, well-documented, objective basis for it.

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

#37

Post by pjbringer »

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.

Deterence is increased both by the severity of the punishment, but also by the certainty of receiving the punishment. I think most major crimes are committed by people who have comitted minor crimes. If getting caught for minor things becomes more likely, it may be less tempting to go down that path. There's a large body of work trying to evaluate the effects of both causes. Arguably, the US has gone way down in the realm of diminishing returns in terms of severity, especially when it come to drug laws. Of course this doesn't take away any of the potential downsides in terms of civil liberties of any approach that raises the certainty of getting punishment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deterrence_(legal)

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

#38

Post by DanBC »

Adirael wrote: post #29
DanBC wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Well, they'd be saying "This photo looks like the person in the photo you provided".

At the moment police are relying on people saying "I saw some bloke that looked like that photo at this location", so there's not much difference.

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

#39

Post by jQueryIsAwesome »

Adirael wrote: post #29
DanBC wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Obviously you would send both pictures to the police with the name and info of the matched suspect so there would be human confirmation.

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

#40

Post by lostlogin »

pgroves wrote: post #24
gk1 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Its rather different, but we are doing a load of outpatient healthcare work for an overworked public health board. Often calling patients multiple times over several days (on cell phone and landline) produces no contact with the person we are after. Posting a letter asking them to call us nearly always works. It's a slow process, but even when you know where someone lives, getting hold if them is hard.
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