BACKGROUND SEARCHING THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Reviewing a recent edition of an investigative magazine, I noticed that corporations are reporting their hiring managers have been researching employment applicants on internet “social networking” sites, and uncovering a lot of interesting information on these prospective employees.“Social Networking” sites are another name for the popular sites such as MySpace.com, Facebook, etc.Not sure which are the popular sites in your area? Ask a teenager! They’ll know! How does this apply to the detective? Recent information also provides information being uncovered on some subjects that reveal another side to him/her that the investigator could find very valuable. For example, evidence of gang affiliation searching through the MySpace pages of a subject may be uncovered through photographs that are posted, web sites they link to, or comments made on their comments pages. Perhaps you’ll find photos posted of people in gang-significant clothing demonstrating gang signs. Certainly an interesting fact to be aware of. A detective had noted one such anecdote. A detective from Victorville, California ran a query using the term “Victimville”, which was a gang-slang for that town, on MySpace. There were about 350 such links, however, a search by the particular gang-name returned a manageable 3-sites; visiting the links on those sites connected to links of friends of those posted, providing a wealth of background information prior to sitting down and interviewing his subject. Certainly something worth keeping in mind. Remember, sometimes the detective doesn’t know what he/she is looking for until he finds it!