Police Scotland Receive Nearly 3,000 Complaints a Year About Social Media

New figures released under freedom of information laws have revealed that almost 3,000 crimes a year linked to Facebook and Twitter are being reported to Police Scotland.

In 2013/14, Police Scotland compiled 2,710 crime reports which mentioned Facebook or Twitter in them. This means police are dealing with more than seven social media related complaints every day.The annual figure has doubled since 2012 and in 2009, there were only 43 complaints involving the two social media platforms.

The breakdown of the crime reports showed that the complaints were varied. Most complaints related to the sending of threatening or menacing messages. However, there were also many sexual offences including grooming and social media being involved in cases of rape. There were also complaints of stalking, racial abuse and fraud. Other offences investigated included attempted extortion, assaults, thefts and breach of the peace.

Police have also investigated online threats aimed at high-profile figures including First Minister Alex Salmond, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and former Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

Labour’s justice spokesman and a former senior police officer, Graeme Pearson, MSP said;

“Law enforcement and police will require to beef up their responses to these challenges if we are to protect the vulnerable from exploitation.The consequences otherwise can be severe for victims and their families.”

In total, 6,538 crime reports featuring the two sites have been compiled by Scots police over the last five years.Facebook was mentioned in 5,804 of the complaints while Twitter was included in 554.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said the rise in this type of crime could be attributed to society’s increasing use of online social networking, and said;

“Police Scotland has a proven track record of dealing with online criminality including threatening and abusive behaviour which clearly displays our ability and determination to tackle such activity.”

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