Using social media to solve crimes
by Md Mustakimur Rahman
We do not have to go too far back to recall that our parents and grandparents had to wait for the morning for a fresh newspaper to hit the front door. Gone are the golden days of gathering around the radio to listen to important news or speeches by our leaders. Now, we are in the golden age of technology and any quantity of information can be passed onto someone in a matter of minutes.
Modern technology has given us lots of advanced gadgets, and a smart phone is one of those. A 3G-enabled smart phone and a good internet service is connecting us with the whole world and changing our lifestyle. Interestingly, social media is not only used for social interaction or networking with new friends, people are also using this tool for business development, education, training etc. From Facebook to Twitter, YouTube, Viber and Whatsapp, social media is changing the mode of networking across the world in a professional capacity.
It is most interesting to perceive that social media is being used by police forces, and it actually provides police officers with new opportunities and tools to help solve crimes. You may not believe it, but it is a fact that Facebook is helping to catch criminals nowadays!
Randomly we are sharing online everything _ from what we have eaten to having seen something funny on the street _ for attention or fun amid poor privacy. But we are not aware that a shared video or picture might turn into strong evidence in solving a crime. Hence, law enforcement agencies can use social media as a device to do their jobs better.
Although the idea of social media use by the police is quite new and not the norm yet, detectives from criminal investigation departments are beginning to use social networking sites (SNS) to inspect for crimes. For example, YouTube and Facebook are very popular places for people to post videos of fights, vandalism or even assaults. These days, it is somewhat common to see that criminal behaviour is caught on tape and shared by using integrated video cameras of smart phones. Day by day, social media is becoming very popular among police forces to solve crimes. Many police stations in the United States and United Kingdom have their own official Facebook and Twitter pages, where citizens can post complaints or concerns. In Britain, the practice of using social media by the police has already started, and the success rate is quite high in solving crimes.
In Bangladesh, most of our police forces are yet to start using SNS for solving crimes. However, that does not mean they are not using social media at all. The concept of using social media isnt exactly new to them, but it was not so widespread before the Rajon murder case in Sylhet.
Rajon, a young boy who used to help his family by selling vegetables, was brutally tortured to death by some assailants, who accused him of stealing. During the assault, a man shot a video of the incident on his mobile phone and posted it on Facebook. The video footage went viral on social media, triggering an outpour of anger and demand for justice. People made petitions and held demonstrations demanding the death penalty for the attackers. After mass protests nationwide, the local police force
took the matter seriously and arrested most
of the suspects and filed criminal charges against them.
Without any doubt, the Rajon case has created a new height in solving crimes. Furthermore, it has inspired the people to help the police forces. After the killing of Rajon, we have seen more footage of crimes posted on social media, prompting local police forces to act on them and successfully arresting the perpetrators. For now, this is a voluntary service provided by the conscious citizens of the country. However, this service can be taken to an advanced level for solving crimes by helping the police.
It seems that most of the time, people are using their smart phones for fun and social interaction. However, some steps can be taken by police forces to make people more active to take part in solving and reducing crimes. This is because social media has the ability to reach the targeted offenders, and the large number of people who use SNS is a major asset for law enforcers.
Truly, the general people are now able to use crowd-sourcing tactics to gather material and help solve crimes faster and more resourcefully than ever before. In addition, information from the public can help bring more transparency to the criminal justice system, as the community will trust them more.
Finally, we can say that the prospect of using social media in solving crimes will be reasonably bright in Bangladesh.
The writer is a legal research assistant at BILIA (Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs).
