UK cops search Internet for knife crimes

From formerly-Great Britain:

Hundreds of weapons have been taken off the streets of Glasgow six months after police started using the web to crack down on gang violence.

Young trainee officers at Strathclyde Police search social networking sites for pictures of people posing with weapons, mainly knives.

Constable Holly McGee and Cadet Fraser Reed, both 18, carry out the work.

"We're looking for anyone who is brandishing offensive weapons or blades," Holly told Newsbeat.

"We take the date, the time, detail of what's in the photograph, [then] a copy of the photograph is printed out and thereafter it's all sent to the gangs task force unit."

That's when more experienced officers in the Violence Reduction Unit at Strathclyde Police get involved.

'The law's been broken'

The man in charge of this, Superintendent Bob Hamilton, says there are two ways of dealing with people once they've been tracked down.

If they were posing in a public place, like on the street or a park, the law has been broken and they'll be arrested.

Even when pictures are taken in private, though, which isn't technically breaking the law, he says the weapons are so dangerous his officers pay a visit to the people involved.

"We show the parents their pictures," he explained, "recover the weapons and make sure they know that behaviour is unacceptable.

"We have large kitchen knives, axes, samurai swords, baseball bats, a huge number and different type of weapons - in simple terms weapons that can kill." [emphasis added]

Superintendent Hamilton says Operation Access has been a complete success.
...
Social networking sites Facebook and Bebo both say they're committed to improving safety for their members as well as helping cut crime.

Article here. So, apparently "large kitchen knives" and baseball bats are no longer allowed in the British Empire. So sad, a proud nation that once ruled much of the world, reduced to a pathetic, disarmed, whimpering nation of sheep, who are relentlessly hounded and subjected to all sorts of government intrusions.

At any rate, stories like this are reminders to be cautious about what you post online. Big Brother is indeed watching.