Police Lesson: Social Network Tools Have 2 Edges

[APB]

Officer Trey Economidy of the Albuquerque police now realizes that he should have thought harder before listing his occupation on his Facebook profile as “human waste disposal.”

Officer Trey Economidy says a Facebook posting of his was “extremely inappropriate.”

After he was involved in a fatal on-duty shooting in February, a local television station dug up the Facebook page. Officer Economidy was placed on desk duty, and last month the Albuquerque Police Department announced a new policy to govern officers’ use of social networking sites.

Social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter can be valuable assets for law enforcement agencies, helping them alert the public, seek information about crimes and gather evidence about the backgrounds of criminal suspects. But the Internet can also get police departments into trouble.

http://nyti.ms/hO5vCZ

[tweakerseeker]

A little common sense goes a long way in the use of social networking. It's actually pretty simple. If you wouldn't say it to a reporter, don't say it to Facebook. Also, stay on top of your privacy settings and control them tightly. You can lock down who sees your page with just a few clicks of the mouse. Then only add people who you actually know and who are actually your friends and family and you will be fine.