El Paso Sheriff May Monitor Social Media For Crime – Too Far or Fair Enough?

Social media is the wild wild west, but the sheriff in town wants to tame it.  El Paso Sheriff Richard Wiles wants to buy software that will allow the EPSO to monitor social media to find people who are committing crimes.

So, is this an invasion of privacy or law enforcement in the digital age?

Some say the Sheriff’s office monitoring would be an invasion of privacy, but over and over again, we hear about, well, let’s just call them ‘intelligence challenged law breakers’, who proudly post their misdeeds online. 

Opponents of the Sheriff’s plan say monitoring social media would amount to randomly stopping and searching people on the street, but I figure if you post details about your criminal activity online in a public forum, you are basically standing on the street and shouting about your crimes!

The EPSO says the software is similar to the kind that was used by law enforcement during situations like Sandy Hook and the Boston Marathon bombings. Sheriff’s officials say they are not going to be hacking into anyone’s account, they will only search for key words that would lead to public posts about crimes.

So, what’s your take on the EPSO monitoring social media?  Invasion of privacy, or a modern day crime fighting tool?