CoP: Cyber threats against the law

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said no formal complaint is necessary in cases where threats of violence are made over social media.

Speaking with Newsday on Sunday, Griffith said he noted several inflammatory remarks being made on social media in the aftermath of last week's general election in which threats were aimed at supporters of various political parties and warned the public that such activity is against the law.

He said through the social media unit of the police cyber crime unit, monitoring of social media activity has been effective in tackling threats of violence.

"The good thing about social media is sometimes people like to talk too much and when they talk too much it gives us enough information in our law enforcement bank.

"We're seeing a number of different comments being made. People are very emotional, some exuberance, some frustrated and because of that they have started making very irresponsible, reckless comments that can cause crime to be committed or try to incite violence and that is where the police will get involved."

Griffith said while people were free to express their opinions, they did not have the right to threaten or harass others and cautioned the public to be careful with their online activities.

"Any time you infringe on the rights of others by threatening them, targeting them, causing a risk to their well-being and security, you can now be a person of interest and may very well be breaking the law."