Thursday, January 20, 2011

Public shaming, part deux

First there was the Twitter campaign by the Montgomery County (TX) District Attorney's Office. To refresh your memories, the MCDAO made a big to-do about tweeting the names of motorists arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Montgomery County. Strangely enough, the MCDAO doesn't seem to tweet the names of those fortunate folks who have been acquitted by Montgomery County juries.

Now it's time for another social media campaign aimed at motorists arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. Now it Huntington Beach, California and Facebook.

City Councilman Devin Dwyer wants to shame motorists arrested for driving under the influence more than once  by posting their mugshots on the police department's Facebook page.
There is a saying: Come to Huntington Beach on vacation, leave on probation. -- Randall Bert, local attorney
Interestingly enough, Huntington Beach Police spokesman, Lt. Russell Reinhart, thinks the idea is a bad one.
We see no value in doing that. Law enforcement is not about public shaming. - Lt. Russell Reinhart
Again, I ask Mr. Dwyer the same question I asked Warrenn Diepraam of the MCDAO: are you going to issue apologies to those folks who aren't found guilty?

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