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Archive for the ‘Finally Friday’ Category:


How to get a day off work with Facebook

Published on 6 January 2012 by in Finally Friday

The first Finally Friday post of 2012 returns to a favourite theme – how criminals use social media to brag about their offending and get themselves caught, in the most comical or ridiculous ways. The most straightforward way to get caught is to commit a crime and then post a photo of yourself on Facebook brandishing your ill-gotten gains, as many rioters did in the UK this summer. This is now so commonplace that the stories have become mainstream fodder on online TV shows based on the “You’ve been Framed” format. This is a typical one from @TheYoungTurks featuring an 18 year old man from Pittsburgh who robbed stores in a local market. It’s interesting that these arrests are becoming more rather than less commonplace, despite extensive media coverage in both the US and the UK. It’s unlikely that six

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And Finally: Friday

Published on 18 November 2011 by in Finally Friday

In the course of researching posts for this Blog, I have come across many bizarre stories about how offenders have incriminated themselves by the innovative, accidental or imbecilic use of social media. Occasionally, police, probation or prison officers have also dropped online clangers. These don’t always make it into the posts themselves, but it’s a shame not to share them. So, I’ve started a new series dedicated to the sort of strange but true stories that make the pages of Private Eye or are featured on any show that Harry Hill presents. They will appear every Friday and seek to inject some humour into the end of your working week. This week we have two rather different stories. First, the everyday story of a bike theft, with a twist. The Wheels of Justice A young woman in Boulder, Colorado used her online

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Putting Facebook on probation

Published on 9 December 2011 by in Finally Friday

This Blog has covered the use of Facebook in the criminal justice system on several occasions and has also questioned why the probation service doesn’t make more use of social media. So this week’s Finally Friday takes a light-hearted look at what happens when you combine the two worlds of Facebook and probation. As any probation officer running an alcohol-related offending group will tell you: alcohol use impairs your cognitive faculties. Drunk on Facebook – About 437,000,000 results Take the man in Louisville, Kentucky convicted for possession of methamphetamine and Ecstasy. Under the terms of his probation, he was prohibited from either drinking alcohol or being in any establishment serving alcoholic beverages. In the spirit of optimistic self-rehabilitation, he friended his probation officer on Facebook. A couple of weeks later he posted a series of pictures of himself drinking to accompany the

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A finally festive Friday: Planking post-Eric Sykes

Published on 23 December 2011 by in Finally Friday

For the last finallyFriday of 2011, the topic is a frivolous and festive celebration of planking. More specifically, keeping to the theme of this Blog, planking in criminal justice settings. For the few of you who don’t know, 2011 was the year that planking went viral. In a nutshell, planking is no more than lying facedown in an unusual or incongruous location, flat-out like a plank. Integral to the game is posting a photo of your planking exploits on the Internet. It became so popular this year that even the New Zealand Prime Minister’s son posted a photo of himself planking on Facebook, with his famous father standing behind him. Planking on police cars quickly became a popular variation. In some cases, plankers were celebrated: In others, they were arrested. Using Facebook to brag about your planking made it pretty

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The eagle flies on Friday

Published on 25 November 2011 by in Finally Friday

Last Friday I wrote about people who got themselves arrested by boasting about their criminal exploits on Facebook. This week’s Finally Friday is for readers who want to combine their criminal justice know-how and social media expertise to set up new money-making businesses. The examples below might be commonplace to American readers, but they seem a little unusual this side of the Atlantic. Firstly, how about a coaching service on how to survive in prison? The “Go To Girl” for people going into custody The conviction of Conrad Murray, the doctor who so tragically mismanaged Michael Jackson’s need for painkillers, provided a great advertising opportunity for American “prison consultants”. One of the best-known is Wendy Feldman (@incarcevention) who tweeted frequently during the Murray trial to promote her business. She urges prospective prisoners to: Get an Incarcevention™ Today – Learn how to

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Who needs tasers when you’ve got Twitter?

Published on 2 December 2011 by in Finally Friday

There are now 640 UK Cops who Tweet in their official capacity – 80 more than when I wrote this post a couple of months ago.  Tweeting is great for community engagement and intelligence gathering but this week’s Finally Friday looks at some bizarre incidents when Twitter was actually used to effect an arrest.   First, have you ever seen something bad happening on a tube train but felt too intimidated to get involved? Down the tubes This August, a man was travelling on the Boston Tube (or, to give its full name, the Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority, known as the T) when he saw a fellow passenger indecently exposing himself. He didn’t know what to do. He was too embarrassed and apprehensive to call 911 and was scared to confront the perpetrator directly. So, instead he took out his smartphone and

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© Russell Webster 2011/12