One thing that is truly great about the internet is that it brings us all together. I don't just mean in terms of social-networking, emailing and Skyping, although that's all cool especially for those of us with friends and family scattered across the globe. But what's more intriguing is the bridging of the gap between the public and the authorities. Councils, MPs, police forces all have websites and Twitter accounts these days offering greater interaction between them and the people they serve.
The Police in particular are determined to show us how tech savvy they are. Earlier this year we saw the release of the online crime map which allowed us to search for our location and see the types of crimes and their frequency.
But now there are plans to push things a step further. It's one thing seeing a dot on your screen which represents a crime but what about seeing the actual criminal responsible? The government is considering publishing photographs of criminals on the web in order to name and shame them. If plans go ahead the images will be integrated into to the crime mapping website.
It's a strategy which already has precedent too. West Yorkshire Police had images published online, along with the name, age and town of the offender.
“The public and victims are entitled to know what has happened when crimes are committed,” said policing minister Nick Herbert. He continued, “Justice must be seen to be done and this will give people the information they need to allow them to question how the system deals with offending.”
Are we not encouraging vigilante style justice and breaching the human rights of offenders who have already received a punishment? Not only that but at the end of the day, will the vast majority of criminals actually be 'shamed' all will they not give a fu**?
You've got to wonder what an online name and shame service would achieve. It seems like another example of the government and police using tech try and ‘modernise’ outdated ideas and systems.