Are Boston Police Scanner Threatening Officers' Safety?

Although social media is a useful tool when it comes to breaking down the borders of transparency, there comes a time when too much info - like data about an investigation - can jeopardize the safety of others. This is one of those times.

While the events of the Boston Police manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects unfolded Thursday night into Friday morning, thousands of people were listening in to the Boston police scanner, and shared what they heard on Twitter and other social media venues.  Around 150,000 people were able to listen to the chatter going over police radios as police were in pursuit of the men by using an online service called Broadcastify that provides live streams of police scanners.

As a result, the Boston Police Department sent out a tweet asking people to refrain from posting tactical information gleaned from the police scanner feeds on Twitter and other social media platforms.  

"WARNING: Do Not Compromise Officer Safety by Broadcasting Tactical Positions of Homes Being Searched," the department declared early Friday morning.

Traditionally, police scanners have traditionally been a tool of crime reporters however now that apps and websites stream law enforcement communication, more can listen in on conversations meant for police.  Law enforcement experts say that this information can be dangerous since it can provide info to a suspect or armed person which they can, in turn, then use to their advantage.  It also raises the risk for police that they'll be ambushed and it increases the risk that people get involved in police business, Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the Huffington Post.

Though Broadcastify took the feed off the air, individuals continued to use social media to dispense updates culled from other police radio broadcasting services which complicated police operations.

David Salmon, a former U.S. marshall who's a senior law enforcement adviser at OSS Law Enforcement Advisors, told the HuffPo that "When a person perceives they're being chased, that's bad enough. When they know they being chased and how they're being chased, they become more dangerous."

"The cops may be able to recognize something isn't accurate, but listeners may take things verbatim," O'Donnell said. "When that goes out over the social media universe, it can be an instrument of disinformation."