Googling the Trail of a Serial Rapist 204
Posted
by
timothy
from the can-you-hear-me-now? dept.
from the can-you-hear-me-now? dept.
theodp writes "Innovative Interactivity has a behind-the-scenes look at the Washington Post's On the Trail of a Serial Rapist series. Information Designer Kat Downs details her experience designing and building the impressive interface for the series, including the use of Google Maps to track the rapist. Wary, perhaps, that it might encourage vigilantism, the WaPo stopped short of allowing readers to add their own input to the maps and urged anyone with additional information to contact the police."
Re:Vigilantism (Score:5, Informative)
If somebody has maliciously assaulted you, tracking them down is not unethical. If somebody has made a habit of maliciously assaulting people at leisure, tracking them down is a service to mankind.
Speaking as someone who was sexually assaulted, yes, tracking the person responsible down is unethical. In my case, they filed it under miscellany and never interviewed him, and less than a month later, three more cases turned up and the guy skipped state. The police never followed up, and so he's very likely still out there. I did the responsible thing and contacted the authorities once I got out of the hospital. Granted, I did it while staring at the floor, stuttering, and being held by a friend, but I did do it.
Can I say I'd do it the same way if it happened again? No, not really. It was a traumatic experience and I won't sit here and say if given half a chance I wouldn't have returned the favor at the time. But I don't think two wrongs make a right, and feeding this guy to a woodchipper because the police wouldn't do their job, while maybe emotionally fulfilling, isn't right. So I have to stand by what I said -- vigilantism is not a public service. A public service would be my day in court, along with the others who that son of a bitch hurt. So I do understand the motivations behind such behavior on a very personal level. I don't agree with it.
Re:Vigilantism (Score:4, Informative)
Really? Are you advocating a criminal-victim right of confidentiality or something? As a criminal, I have the right to privacy of my crimes?
I get the core of what you're saying--vigilantism can be bad--but I see absolutely nothing wrong in this case. The police (and other shows like America's Most Wanted) regularly share far more information about ongoing cases than is on this webpage. It's a neat little mashup sure, but that's all. Who knows if more victims will come forward after recognizing something in the description, or a friend/acquaintance of the rapist realizes something is going on, etc?
Re:Looks like it'd make a great tool for LEO (Score:3, Informative)
I imagine they already do this...
You know those license plate scanners the police cars have now? I can guarantee those things are going in a database as such:
[License plate ID][Time & Day of scan][GPS coordinates]
They could then go and use that data to prove or disprove you were or weren't in a certain area at a certain time.
Hell with enough of that data, they could probably generate reports of your driving habits.
Re:Vigilantism (Score:4, Informative)
The authorities have no duty to protect anyone: http://www.firearmsandliberty.com/kasler-protection.html [firearmsandliberty.com]
The best thing to do about crime is to stop it yourself whenever you see it going on. If you have the nuts for it, you can become a bounty hunter and hunt people down yourself for a living.
Re:Vigilantism (Score:3, Informative)
There is nothing wrong with being vigilant. It has often been said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
In many places around the country the police force is either being used to collect fines to make their budget and/or their force is being cut. In fact, an Ohio county Judge [google.com] has urged its citizens to buy guns, be vigilant and set up community watches.
Judge Alfred Mackey of Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court advised residents Friday to be vigilant and arm themselves because the number of deputies has been cut about in half because of a tight budget. He also urged neighbors to organize anti-crime block watch groups.
Sure, people can take being vigilant too far, but so can authorized police.
Even with a modern police force they need all the help they can get.
A few years ago I helped the police catch a person who stole a disc golf basket from a local park. A yahoo news group was alerted to an ebay posting of a disk golf basket without a pole, which means it was probably stolen. I knew a basket had recently been stolen from rarely played course. I googled the ebay user name, found his myspace page with pictures of him playing at that same course. The information I gathered was forwarded to the police and within a week the person was arrested.
If I had just filed a police report that the basket had been stolen the person would have never been caught. Using the newsgroup as a sort of open-source intelligence resource made a huge difference in catching the thief.
Re:Vigilantism (Score:5, Informative)
in return for being assured that nobody else can randomly hunt you down to satisfy a grudge, either.
Except that you are given no such assurance. The only assurance you are given is that the police will try to track down the person who hunted you down after the fact. The police in the United States have no legal duty to protect you. The Supreme Court has said as much [nytimes.com].
The police exist for exactly this reason, and the occasional (and even occasionally systemic) abuses aside, they do a reasonable job of it.
Tell that to all the rape/murder victims out there. The sad reality of the situation is that you are the one who is ultimately responsible for your own well being. The police sure as hell aren't.