SequencesShortened Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Staffordshire Police have launched an initiative to "name and shame" drink drivers by posting their personal details on Twitter https://twitter.com/search?q=#DrinkDriversNamedOnTwitter Whilst you cannot condone drink driving, at the same time, English law has the long established concepts of spent crimes and rehabilitation of offenders. In particular the concept of "spent crimes", whilst a criminal record is never deleted; once a conviction is "spent" you do not, unless required to do so by separate law covering particular types of employment, have to declare it if asked if you have any criminal convictions. Which was fine, until the Internet came along. The full names and street address / town (not house number) have been posted to Twitter and therefore a permanent, indelible public record of their crimes has been created. So whenever these people come to apply for jobs in the future, even many years after their drink driving conviction has been spent, a quick google for "firstname surname" + "town" is very likely to bring up Staffordshire Police's tweet Most people don't think its a big deal - it's almost universally praised on Twitter and many other police forces are considering joining Staffordshire's lead. Overwhelming public opinion seems to be "if you don't want to be named and shamed don't drink and drive". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swissy_fit Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Seems sort of ok but..... What next? Rapists? People who miss an alimony payment? Parking fines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dances with sheeple Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Seems sort of ok but..... What next? Rapists? People who miss an alimony payment? Parking fines? People cheerleading a housing crash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 And what about false accusations? Or incorrect ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SequencesShortened Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 Yeah - conceptually, it's no different to having details of convicted people published in the local paper - which has been going on forever. The big difference, is the indexing and searchability - it's not just related to Twitter - but where local newspaper websites carry the same articles as their print counterparts, so too is that content being indexed and searchable forever - way beyond the spent period of the kind of convictions being reported. Corrected twitter search link BTW; https://twitter.com/search?q=%23DrinkDriversNamedOnTwitter&src=typd Can I ask anyone who supports the Staffordshire Policy strategy, accepts my point that the details are now online forever, how that sits with the concept of rehabilitation of offenders - which is intended to give people the chance to put their crimes behind them and start again - because it presumably means that you don't agree with the premise of the rehabilitation of offenders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 From #DrinkDrive: Staffordshire Police @StaffsPolice 16 Dec We are about the publish the details of those charged with #DrinkDrive offences since our last update on Saturday morning Charged. Not convicted, charged. Let's do away with courts altogether, the Police can organize flashmob lynchings on Facebook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19 year mortgage 8itch Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Seems sort of ok but..... What next? Rapists? People who miss an alimony payment? Parking fines? Dirty renters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longtomsilver2 Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Staffordshire Police cover my force area and there is one person named and shamed already that I know of personally, though not as a friend . While I can't condone drink driving this comes across as a cruel and unusual punishment. Heaven forbid any of these miscreants find themselves in need of a job as most employers conducting background checks in the future will find dirt on them without much delving. It has the makings of a lifetime on handouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SequencesShortened Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 They've recently published a press release titled Overwhelming support #drink drivers named on twitter however do acknowledge; There have been concerns raised about naming those charged. However, it is force policy to name people who have been charged and when offenders attend court it becomes a matter of public record. That's fine - but the point is how much effort would a potential employer have had to go through to find your drink driving conviction in the "public record" 20 years ago, Vs. now, where they just google you and up pop Staffordshire Police's tweets. But, I guess "public record" is "public record". It's now just very, very public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Drink driving is a victimless crime 99% of the time, anyway. If we're criminalizing things on the 'probability' someone might be hurt, lets prosecute range rover drivers, because a >2tonne range rover that crashes into you is a lot more likely to kill you than a <1tonne mini cooper. A crime is a crime only when someone has actually been hurt or had their rights violated. In of itself, drink driving violates no ones rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interestrateripoff Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 From #DrinkDrive: Charged. Not convicted, charged. Let's do away with courts altogether, the Police can organize flashmob lynchings on Facebook. So if I name someone like this Id get arrested or sued but the plod do it and its fine??? Next up kerb crawlers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Maybe worth giving your child a fairly common firstname+surname combination so that authorities and employers won't be able to use search results as a stick to beat them with one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motch Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Maybe worth giving your child a fairly common firstname+surname combination so that authorities and employers won't be able to use search results as a stick to beat them with one day. John Smith. Sarah Brown. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Drink driving is a victimless crime 99% of the time, anyway. If we're criminalizing things on the 'probability' someone might be hurt, lets prosecute range rover drivers, because a >2tonne range rover that crashes into you is a lot more likely to kill you than a <1tonne mini cooper. A crime is a crime only when someone has actually been hurt or had their rights violated. In of itself, drink driving violates no ones rights. Quite. But it's a nice tick in the "crime" statistics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The XYY Man Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Maybe worth giving your child a fairly common firstname+surname combination so that authorities and employers won't be able to use search results as a stick to beat them with one day. Nice thinking. But you could go one better. (Lights blue touch paper and stands well back...) Why not use a common name from an ethnic minority group - and practically guarantee you get the job...! Or click for some 'compo' if you don't... XYY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnionTerror Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 If every force adopts this "policy", then it will just dilute the message.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 John Smith. Sarah Brown. ? Are your children all named after former leaders of the Labour party and their wives? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 The could do this with people accused of paedophilia too. Then the public will sort them out. What could go wrong? ...oh, wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Nice thinking. But you could go one better. (Lights blue touch paper and stands well back...) Why not use a common name from an ethnic minority group - and practically guarantee you get the job...! Or click for some 'compo' if you don't... XYY Far easier just to tick the 'black' box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Knimbies who say No Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 The popularity of Twitter could give rise to the defence of 'being unable to get a fair trial'. This is surely a very ill-advised course by the force in question. Particularly since the hash tag makes no mention of the fact that guilt has yet to be established. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilf Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Not the first time Staffodshire Police Force have misused computers http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Staffordshire-police-officers-PSCO-quit-misuse/story-19202844-detail/story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilf Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Maybe worth giving your child a fairly common firstname+surname combination so that authorities and employers won't be able to use search results as a stick to beat them with one day. Problem is that the tweets reveal far more information than just a name.... Sarah XXXXXX, age 39, Paget Rise, Abbots Bromley #Arrested & # Charged with #DrinkDriving after #StopCheck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilf Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 And this one.... http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/08/21/police-chiefs-probe-claims-of-corruption/ Perhaps if you have twitter you could tweet those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC1 Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Let's do away with courts altogether, the Police can organize flashmob lynchings on Facebook. Where do I sign? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Where do I sign? Stoning time, around 15:00! Wear a beard, as in "Life of Brian"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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