Thug life on the internet
When you do an internet search on thugs you will see hundreds of photographs of young guys pointing guns, spraying graffiti, holding handfuls of money or flashing gang signs. Officials say that it is all occurring as a part of the growing trend of gangs pushing the thug life on the internet.
Detective Malin Wistocki from the department of internet crimes unit explains his disbelief in how, within a few clicks, he can bring up a picture of youths smoking marijuana or holding a bad full of cannabis leaves. "Look at this. How stupid is this?" Wistocki says as he prints out the photo and saves a screen grab to his computer. "These guys put this out there, thinking that nobody's watching. That it's only their friends, but they are wrong". Many websites are dedicated to the hosting of photos and material that is potentially illegal, Detective Wistocki explains that in many cases, the "anonymous" admins of these websites are actually undercover police officers. He also said that it is from these types of images and forums that he can learn valuable information about local gangs and potentially lead him to incriminating evidence. " A police officer can learn a lot about local crime and gangs just by searching the internet, You'll be surprised by the amount of information they put out there for everyone to see".
Officers speculate as to what the real purpose of these types of websites are and have come to the conclusion that they are used for the glorification of their gangs and for the recruitment and advertisement of them. "It's like an online graffiti tag" Mr. Wistocki says.
Next time you should think twice about posting images on the web that could be incriminating, you never know who just might be watching. Social media is also claimed to be a large factor in the increase of gang behaviour on the internet. Many social networks such as Facebook as easy platforms for gangs to advertise and gain status by reaching many people all at once. This transition is thought to be a potential reason as to why gangs are less represent on the streets in forms of graffiti and tagging. There are better and easier ways to reach people so gangs are capitalising upon these new opportunities, in turn resulting in this new found movement of "internet thugs".