Denton Police Go After Twitter Postings

Apr 17, 2009 5:46 pm US/Central DENTON Denton police want to know why a University of North Texas student is posting mug shots on Twitter .

[fantasy girl]

Denton County police are whiners. There's a disclaimer. It doesn't need to be huge. Upset over nothing.

[meg]

what? explain? they are whining over twitters?

[Stupid]

Nothing better to do I guess. Denton PD is an organization of racist, corrupt morons.

[Stupid]

LOL, they can't do anything to him. Score one for the people.

[Level Headed]

I would think that the police would post those pictures themselves. It is common practice in other jurisdictions around the country. And the DA got it right about the "legal" postings.

"Denton officials claim the site humiliates people who aren't 'real' criminals".

If you are placed under arrest and taken to jail, you are a "criminal". Law Enforcement is not in the business are arresting non-criminals!! If you don't want your picture on the web or in the newspaper, don't break the law. It doesn't get any simpler than that!

[fantasy girl]

Well the Denton County page listing all the bond amounts, case files, mugshots, jail records are public record. There is no reason why no one else shouldn't be able to post those. I find it informative and since the public have access to view these sites and review information, the police can't really say too much.

[LSC16]

fantasy girl wrote:

Denton County police are whiners. There's a disclaimer. It doesn't need to be huge. Upset over nothing.

First of all, there's no such thing as "Denton County police". Secondly, the police didn't go after this guy. Get your facts straight, moron.

[fantasy girl]

LSC16 wrote:

<quoted text>
First of all, there's no such thing as "Denton County police". Secondly, the police didn't go after this guy. Get your facts straight, moron.

I figured that people were smart enough to understand that by Denton County police, I was referring to the following (and many more police agencies in the county: Denton, Corinth, Hickory Creek, Lake Dallas, Argyle, Little Elm, Justin, Flower Mound,(part of) Carrollton, Lewisville, Gainesville, etc. I did not know that by referring to "Denton County police" that someone would be so stupid that it would have to be explained to them.

Yes, if you read the story, and others pertaining to it, the police aren't happy that this guy is posting information on his Twitter page.

[fantasy girl]

LSC16 wrote:

<quoted text>
First of all, there's no such thing as "Denton County police". Secondly, the police didn't go after this guy. Get your facts straight, moron.

Oh, I also never claimed that the police are "after this guy".

[Use Your Brains]

This is disturbing and it's a wonderful example of how making public records this accessible online is clearly a ridiculous idea.

This means that if someone was jailed, or even willingly sat out a speeding ticket, then they could have that information spread quite easily with a few mouse clicks. The fact that no one seems upset about this is the frightening part.

This isn't victory for the "people." Denton County doesn't care about the people being harmed. They care that their initiative, which was passed in 2006, is now coming back to haunt them. The critics warned them.

More importantly, why would someone feel the need to post this information via Twitter? How utterly bored, and meddlesome can one person be to decide that this is a proper use of their time.

Civil Liberties groups warned about the potential for abuse, and it looks like they were right. Of course, the average poster on here has the brains of a insect. Te ability for them to exercise foresight, and comprehend why this is an issue, says it all, really.

As with most Civil Liberties issues, it's all fun and games until it affects you , or your family.

[Use Your Brains]

"If you are placed under arrest and taken to jail, you are a "criminal". Law Enforcement is not in the business are arresting non-criminals!! If you don't want your picture on the web or in the newspaper, don't break the law. It doesn't get any simpler than that!"

Clearly you are incapable of understanding the difference between different kinds of "crimes" that are committed. Having public information easily accessed for all levels of incarceration can have drastic affects on unknowing individuals that do not deserve to have those kinds of consequences applied to them. They have already paid for their "crime."

While these are public records, the ease of access makes them even more public. Suggesting that someone who was jailed for speeding, or some other trivial violation deserves to have that information made public with such ease, is mind-blowing. You don't seem to understand the concept of nuance. Everything appears to be so simple, and straight forward to you. It's a lazy form of thinking.

A person does not deserve to have their legal cases made public for whatever transgression that occurs in their life. More importantly, while the current law makes such records public, the law needs to be changed.

Educate yourself.