Public Safety considers Facebook a valuable tool for party busts

According to University Housing and police, freely-advertised parties on Facebook are contributing to some parties’ unruliness and large turnouts.

Public Safety Director Ken Vance said Facebook has become a reliable and regular source of information for University Police.

“(Facebook) is just a normal tool for us to see where we may get calls (about parties),” Vance said. “If it’s public access, then they’ve got to know that the public and Public Safety has access to it. We do constantly look at it every week to see what’s going on and see if we have to have more officers come in if there is more going on.”

Vance also said information that University Police discover on Facebook that is out of their jurisdiction is often passed on to the Milledgeville Police Department.

Vice President for Student Affairs Bruce Harshbarger said student leaders from the Student Government Association and Student Judiciary Board recently made him and other university officials aware that students are announcing parties on Facebook.

“It seems like most everyone is on Facebook,” Harshbarger said. “I have the impression that people are saying things (on Facebook) that they think are available only to a limited audience but are going out to the whole campus and town and who knows (who else) besides that.”

Junior criminal justice and sociology major Jessica Hayes said she does not see a problem with the university utilizing Facebook to monitor parties.

“I don’t think it’s an invasion of privacy because it’s a public announcement,” Hayes said. “It’s a pretty obvious resource they could use.”

According to Harshbarger, a number of parties throughout the downtown Milledgeville area and in Carrington Woods this semester have presented problems. Parties such as these are the reasons that Facebook needs to be monitored occasionally, he said.

“Throughout the first half of the fall there have been some parties that have run late into the night and gotten really loud,” Harshbarger said. “People started telling me it’s because their parties are on Facebook.

Director of University Housing Paul Jahr said that University Housing does not regularly monitor Facebook. However, he said personnel will check Facebook if they hear about an upcoming party that is likely to get out of control.

“We don’t routinely look on Facebook (for parties), but if there is an open invitation to a party, we contact the resident and ask them to reconsider,” Jahr said. “When you put something on Facebook, it’s open to the world. We don’t need people coming into our (facilities) that don’t need to be.”

Harshbarger said the open announcements result in larger crowds than party-throwers anticipate, which is likely to result in an increase in underage and binge drinking. The unruly parties also cause disruptions for both the university and surrounding community, he said.

Vance said parties with open invitations are a cause for extreme concern.

“The ones with open invitations you have to look at seriously, and (Facebook) is a good tool for us. We use it all the time,” Vance said.

University Relations is currently working on a ‘good neighbor initiative’ to improve the relationship between the university and community by increasing awareness,” Harshbarger said.

“One of the things that’s being done right now is a canvas of the downtown areas, trying to find out who the owners are because there are so many who are outside of Baldwin County,” Harshbarger said. “We’re going to be starting a ‘good neighbor initiative’ that’s guidance on renter’s rights and how to handle (situations).”

Harshbarger said many students do not realize the repercussions that may be associated with what is posted on Facebook. Messages and other postings on Facebook are available to the public and may have the potential to harm reputations, Harshbarger said.

“It seems to me that some people are putting things on (Facebook) that they really don’t want coming back to them,” Harshbarger said.

According to Vance, the monitoring of Facebook helps ensure the safety of students.

“Our duty is to enforce the law, and it’s good to know where the potential for situations that would require law enforcement are going to be,” Vance said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 4 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry