Police hunt Facebook bullies

By Daily Mail Reporter

Facebook police warnings will soon be issued to cyber bullies in a crackdown on serious social network-related crimes.
Officers will step in and send a written online message telling the student they could be prosecuted for a public order offence if they continue to use the site to pursue victims.
The rising concern over Facebook bullying has come about following a spate of recent incidents and rising reports of Facebook 'Trolling' where bullies leave shocking comments on online memorial pages.

Gloucestershire teenager Sam Leeson, 13, was driven to suicide in 2008 after being taunted by cyber-bullies.
The Facebook profiles of Sam and Natasha MacBryde who died under a train on Valentines Day, even continued to be targeted by school bullies after their deaths, who carried out 'RIP-Trolling' alongside their friends and families' messages of condolence.

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Over the next three months police officers plan to work with schools in Reading where 60 Facebook-related crimes have been reported in four months alone.
Teachers will tip them off whenever a parent believes their child could be a cyber-bully victim.
Police say 'nipping the problem in the bud' early on will avoid the problem becoming more serious.
PC Dave Thomas of Thames Valley Police said: 'In Reading alone, we recorded 60 Facebook-related crimes in the last quarter.
 Hunt: Police officers will work with schools in Reading where 60 Facebook-related crimes have been reported in four months alone
'By sending a police warning notice on Facebook students will be made aware they could be prosecuted.
'By alerting their parents to the problem, we are aiming to nip the problem in the bud and prevent it becoming something more serious.
'Social networkers, whatever their age, often don’t think about what they are writing in the same way they would think about what they write in a letter or an email.
'If we have to investigate Facebook messages as harassment or public order offences and the young person gets charged, it could seriously affect their future.

'While we want them to realise how serious the matter is, we also want to avoid that and keep young people out of the criminal justice system if possible.'
Cyber-bully deaths have risen as a result of the social-networking craze, with school children and college students being some of the worst offenders.
Two girls at an elite prep school in Connecticut, US, were expelled and four suspended after setting up a Facebook group which attacked pupils they did not like in November last year.
Police will recruit a teenage police volunteer in their Facebook project who will help identify any new cases of the crime.
Once a cyber bullying issue is flagged by a school or parent to an officer, the team will investigate what has been written and, if it is deemed inappropriate, they will send the bully a message warning them if they continue they could be breaking the law.
The young person’s parents will also be sent a letter informing them what their child has been doing and the potential consequences of their actions.

The trial will run until May and, if successful, could be rolled out elsewhere.