Seems that security needs to be stepped up at Sea World, but luckily social media saved the day penguin this time.

(CNN) — A trio of men faces charges after allegedly stealing a penguin from Sea World on the Gold Coast of Australia’s Queensland and then bragging about it online.

Dirk, one of the park’s 29 fairy penguins, was found under Southport pier Sunday night, frightened but apparently not hurt.

The theft on Saturday night was the first of an animal in the park’s 40-year history, the park’s spokeswoman Renee Soutar said on Monday.

Police alerted Sea World after someone saw pictures of the penguin on Facebook allegedly posted by the three men, who were releasing it nearby.

Read more…

Well, a man in Kentucky has just made my list of social media investigation subjects that just make it way too easy.  The man ran out of gas and decided to fill up by stealing gas from a police cruiser.  But in case that wasn’t risky enough, he had his girlfriend take a picture while in the act – even flashing an obscene gesture.

The big opps though…he then posted the picture on Facebook.

Police bust man over Facebook pic – See video on CNN here.

Yesterday after posting my blog I caught a story on the news that clearly reinforced one of my suggestions that public video often gets posted without a victim reporting an incident or police even being aware a crime has been committed.

Very true was the case of a tourist in Baltimore that was beaten and stripped (literally if you can believe it) after celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.  In this case, the man woke up the next day at his hotel not remembering what had happened, how he got the bruises and cuts or where his belongings were – this would probably be linked to possible intoxication, but also from the hits to his head.  I don’t think that self-applied protective measures would have helped this gentleman unfortunately, because situational awareness was probably completely muted given his assumed blood alcohol levels.
People at the scene that shot video of the violent incident posted it on video sharing sites and police began a social media investigation.  One of the victim’s family members even saw the clip and notified him.

Onlookers jeer as man is beaten, stripped and robbed in Baltimore
By Lisa Sylvester, CNN

Baltimore (CNN) — Onlookers laughed and did nothing to help as a man was beaten, stripped and robbed on the street in Baltimore.

The attack, which police say happened on March 18 after St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, was captured by at least two cameras. Video of it went viral.

“Not only did they rob him, but they attempted to strip him of his dignity. They tore his clothes off; they mocked him. That behavior just will not be tolerated,” said Detective Nicole Monroe with the Baltimore police.

Police say they have identified one suspect, but have made no arrests.

They are not releasing the victim’s identity except to say he was a 31-year-old man from Arlington, Virginia.

The victim was on the way to his hotel from a downtown Baltimore club when he was attacked, according to a police report. The man had been drinking. He told police he couldn’t recall exactly what happened, but the videos fill in the blanks.

In them, a man is seen standing, unsteadily, against a row of mailboxes. A crowd starts to gather and women dance suggestively against him. Someone notices his watch and a hand seems to grab something from one of the man’s front pockets.

He pursues the supposed thief and is punched in the face. The man falls over backward and his head hits the sidewalk so hard it can be heard on the video.

Watch the video and read more…

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, and while tidbits of new evidence trickle in, mixed with some eyewitness accounts, there doesn’t seem to be anything to clearly assist the ongoing investigation.

With incidents like this, the existence of video would typically speed up an investigation or clearly define the happenings – but no video of this incident has surfaced to date.  Often when video captures an incident, it almost immediately finds its way on social media sites before the authorities have access to it if it was filmed by the public.  This allows the public to make their own judgments from visual evidence instead of trying to piece things together as they are fed information through private news channels as with the Trayvon Martin case.

When video is posted online it allows for a social media investigation element to a case.  There have even been instances of videos showing a crime being posted that originally went unreported because a victim didn’t think that just their reported claim would be enough to ensure justice.  But viewers have notified authorities of criminal activity seen on video sharing sites and then an investigation is opened and the victim comes forward (e.g. the Brandon White beating).

Would video everywhere reduce violent acts?  More than four million cameras monitor life in Britain – is it a positive or a negative and how accepting is the general public of constant surveillance?

As an investigative tool we can enhance our surveillance efforts by getting to know a subject through a social media investigation.  But during an interview, and it real time?  Are they looking to avoid hiring a party person, someone with imagery conducive to workplace violence or that their ‘hobbies’ as noted on their resume match the photos on their Facebook page?  That’s what some recruiters are now doing as part of an interview for employment – asking for login credentials of the interviewee on the spot.  An interesting from of employment screening definitely.

I’m not sure this kind of tactic will be permitted legally going forward, but I definitely know that there’ll be lots of people out there with two personal profiles once the word gets out that they may encounter this in an interview.  One ‘real’ profile with all of their crazy party photos with friends, and one ‘dummy’ profile with photos of family, volunteering at soup kitchens and helping seniors across the road.

Job seekers get asked to provide Facebook logins

SEATTLE — When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.

Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldn’t see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.

Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn’t want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.

In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person’s social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.

“It’s akin to requiring someone’s house keys,” said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it “an egregious privacy violation.”

Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.

Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publicly available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.

Read More…