People Prove That Posting On Facebook Can Actually Get You In Trouble With The Law.

[Lady's Human]

I'm not sure which is more mind boggling:

The fact that (if these posts are accurate) people are dumb enough to post criminal evidence online

or

The fact that people are getting arrested for statements made online with no action to actually commit a crime.

[Catty1]

LH - on your second point, I recalled the case of the director's son in CA who went on that shooting spree. There were lots of verbal warnings on FB and etc, and the cops were sent to see the guy. They didn't think to search his apartment for guns, unfortunately.

I think checking out verbal threats, even by arresting the person, is a case of better safe than sorry.

If they'd arrested the guy in CA, I wonder if things would have been different?

ETA: And yes, people can be incredibly stupid.

[Lady's Human]

LH - on your second point, I recalled the case of the director's son in CA who went on that shooting spree. There were lots of verbal warnings on FB and etc, and the cops were sent to see the guy. They didn't think to search his apartment for guns, unfortunately.

I think checking out verbal threats, even by arresting the person, is a case of better safe than sorry.

If they'd arrested the guy in CA, I wonder if things would have been different?

ETA: And yes, people can be incredibly stupid.

There's a difference and a fine line between performing due diligence (searching, ordering mental health evals, etc) and arresting someone for comments posted online. Unfortunately, with the current laws in the US, getting someone into a forced commitment for eval can be a nightmare, even when requested by legal guardians.

[Karen]

There's a difference and a fine line between performing due diligence (searching, ordering mental health evals, etc) and arresting someone for comments posted online. Unfortunately, with the current laws in the US, getting someone into a forced commitment for eval can be a nightmare, even when requested by legal guardians.

And they can only hold someone for a psych eval for a limited number of hours or days ... so who's to say if they held him, he just wouldn't wait out the 72 hours and then go on his spree?

In some of these posts, they were not Americans, so I know laws are different in, say, a Middle East country than the US. And in many of the cases, i am sure there is more to the story than this one-sentance summary!

[momcat]

I'm no fan of technology in any of its forms and avoid Facebook like the plague. Sadly, many people I know insist on using it. The biggest issue for me is personal privacy, the biggest blow to our quality of life caused by technocrap. PT is the ONLY site I go to because it's the ONLY one where I feel safe. I do not allow my picture to be taken for any reason, recently someone did without my knowledge or consent then had the nerve to put it on Facebook. When I found out there was hell to pay in front of others so the message would be heard by all. Many couldn't understand why I got so angry about it. They're the ones who have a problem. Even with those I know who use it, common sense completely disappears and they'll post anything. If someone gets in trouble for what they put on there, so what. They were asking for it.

[Jessika]

I'm not sure which is more mind boggling:

The fact that (if these posts are accurate) people are dumb enough to post criminal evidence online

or

The fact that people are getting arrested for statements made online with no action to actually commit a crime.

Agreed agreed agreed!

But yes, some of these (probably all of these) are true... and yes, people really are DUMB ENOUGH to post this stuff to facebook... I've seen it happen with my own eyes... someone trying to evade court by posting on facebook about how she got a ticket for speeding and not having proof of insurance... You MUST make a court appearance here for not having proof of insurance, but you can just pay your fine for a speeding ticket, etc. So she was talking about her court date for not having insurance, someone asked well you better have insurance, and she said something to the effect of "don't worry... it's being taken care of...", going on to allude that someone was forging documents for her to bring to court to "prove" she had insurance on the date of her ticket. I replied stating "are you sure it's appropriate to post something like this not only to facebook but as a public post on facebook???" She never replied to me, but she never deleted the post OR her comment!!!

She later went on to get arrested for having her three children in the same house as her meth lab... facing 60+ years in federal prison... real winner here, and she was a family member too (WAS... my cousin dropped her really quick).