Facebook Cop

I am in full support of this petition. Like many other social networking sites, this site has been designed for the sole purpose of allowing people,even strangers, to interact. However, this site could be used as a tool for those with ill intent-as evidenced by the tragic case of Ms Nona Belomeoff. She had been lured out by her Facebook stalker, whose sole intent was to murder her.
This has not been the only tragic case involving Facebook. In October 27th of 2009, a serial sex offender, 33 year old Peter Chapman, deceived 17 year old Ashleigh Hall with a false profile picture of a dashing young man. After months of communication, she agreed to meet him at a deserted bush land area. She was then brutally raped and killed.
Cyber bullying has claimed lives too. In January 2010, Phoebe Prince, 15, of South Hadley, hanged herself after being bullied by a group of girls who taunted her with text messages and on Facebook.

In order to prevent any other tragedies such as these, a Facebook Cop must be installed. With the presence of government authorities, cyber bullies and criminals would doubtless think twice before perpetuating these crimes. Facebook Cops would trawl the networking site regularly. Having been trained to detect any kind of ill intent, they would then track down the suspect and monitor his or her movements. Should the suspect be proven guilty, the police would intervene-thus preventing anything negative from occurring.
This Facebook cop would also be able to prevent any harassment-in the form of cyber-stalking-and perhaps, even rioting. Closer to home, Singaporean police have discovered a Facebook profile which had been set up in order to recruit gang members. It attracts potential ‘recruits’ through flashily emblazoned gang crests and fierce tattoos. Had a Facebook cop been installed earlier, I feel certain that this would have been nipped in the bud earlier, and likely recruits would have been deterred.

For years, social networking sites have gone unmonitored by police forces. This has led to lives lost, bodily injury and in instances, loss of property. In 2003, a man had cyber stalked someone whom he had an argument with through Myspace. This man eventually discovered his offender’s address and razed his home and worldly possessions to ashes. Now with Facebook dominating the social network trend, cyber bullies and criminals have a wider platform to perpetuate their activities-and have a higher chance of succeeding in their ill intent.

For years these tragedies have gone undeterred by police forces, and even more damage will be wrought if no intervention comes. It is high time police forces are mobilized to tackle this growing danger-before it is, once again, too late to prevent another tragedy from happening.