Stop poking us! Cops say Facebook arguments hinder crime solving
Petty Facebook rows are preventing police from "reducing and detecting crime", according to a policing team in Wiltshire, UK.
A sergeant for the neighborhood policing teams of Wootton Bassett, Malmesbury and Cricklade has urged people not to call for help with Facebook incidents and rows unless it relates to domestic disputes/crimes or other serious issues.
Sergeant Martin Alvis, writing on the Malmesbury Police Facebook page, advised: "Please do not call us for Facebook incidents where you or someone else has had a falling out and then written something in the heat of the moment".
"If you dislike someone enough to report them to the Police why would you have them as a friend on FB? If you don’t like a person, if you don’t know a person or they are not your friend why would you have them on your FB?"
Sergeant Alvis made the comments after "spending three hours" reviewing crime and anti-social behavior reports for the areas that he covers.
He added: "We can deal with and will deal with evidence on FB relating to domestic disputes/crimes or other serious matters. I am talking here about matters that do not need the police and can be controlled by the click of a button and some common sense. Help begins with you, so press the unfriend button and have nothing more to do with the person. Then we can direct more of our resources to reducing and detecting crime, using your taxes to the community’s best advantage".
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