The resources devoted to the police force have been debated for, well, as long as the police has existed. There never seems to be enough time and manpower to keep crime abay and citizens safe.

But that was the yestermillennium. In the new millennium, resources need not be an issue. Time should be no problem, when you can search the entire world within microseconds and just a click of the mouse, and manpower is in abundande, when anyone, anywhere, can do police work.

In the yestermillennium, only cops had access to mug shots to help identify criminals. In the world of any, anyone can just peruse facebook to find fresh pictures and whereabouts of suspects. In the yestermillennium, only the police could book criminals, now anyone can facebook offenders.

Just ask UK party girl Jennifer Wilson, who got smashed in the face with a beer glass at a club by a girl she’d never seen before. She went to the police, who had no mug shot and did not have enough resources to talk to witnesses and conduct a search for the perpetrator. Jennifer realized that the girl had to know someone who, in turn, knew someone in Jennifer’s party gang, as they were at the same place at the same time. So, she chose one of her party friends, perused the pictures of  her facebook friends, recognized one from the club, perused that girl’s facebook friends, and – presto! – there was the perp.

Jennifer facebooked her, giving the police her identity and address. However, the police did not find the perp at her home and returned to Jennifer with news that they could make no arrest. So, Jennifer called on facebook once again, found out where the perp was right now (good ol’ status update) and informed the police, who finally booked her.