geekosystem

While the UK government considers the possibility of restricting social media during crises, the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have embraced it as a tool to prosecute, and publicize the prosecutions, of those involved with the recent London riots. The GMP's approach seems to be two-fold: First, the police are tweeting out the name, date of birth, and neighborhood of residence of those they've arrested. This might seem shocking to American audiences, but the GMP are adamant that they are simply fulfilling their legal obligation to publish the information of those found guilty. They maintain that the date of birth and home information is intended to prevent confusion between people with the same name as those who have been arrested. Quoting from their Twitter feed, the police say, "Lot of debate about publishing details - courts very clear, justice should be done publicly." Their second social media prong is a Flickr account with photos of unidentified suspects from the riots.