The police is going... social.

Source:
Social Media and the Law: Police explore new ways to fight crime - TNW Social Media

“There is less debating about whether or not to get on social media. Now it’s about – we understand we need to do this, so how do we go about it?” That's the ending line in the article and it's really interestin now many ways the civilians can benefit from the police using social media. Instant information sharing, building a better more usefull social profile, investigating background and usefull information in specific cases and most importantly protect from new kinds of crime on the web.

There is no doubt we are entering a world of parallel lives, digital and real. This doesn't mean that the new digital world won't carry the social problems of the real one. Crime is one of them and in the new digital world is transforming in new forms. Having a police that takes under account these developments and tranfers its actions (protect and serve) to the digital world is vital.

However, there is a thin red line in usage of personal information and modern laws have to face this challenge. Crossing this line can be dangerous not only for civilians but for policemen too. So... yes... police should go social and it is going social in many countries but legislation should also follow the lead.