Facebook-'Dipping' Teens Using Web 2.0 to Find Secret Pool Parties
Well, UK newspaper the Telegraph is reporting that some British teens have found a clever way to cool off during this sweltering season with a little help from Google Earth and Facebook.
The kids are using the accurate imagery on Google Earth to find out where private swimming pools are located and then inviting friends (and anyone else they've linked to) via social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo to join them at clandestine pool parties, often picking late night hours or waiting until homeowners leave for work during the day to trespass and go for a swim. It's called Facebook 'dipping.'
Police are getting reports of people returning to their homes at the end of the day to find their pools and back yards full of beer cans and other evidence of these impromptu parties. Others are being awakened late at night by partying kids, who advise each other on Facebook to bring their bicycles so they can make a quick getaway if caught.
So far we haven't seen reports of this happening stateside – but Web access, rising temperatures and a little ingenuity seems to promise incidents soon. (Who knows? By writing about it are we giving kids bad ideas? For the record, we're firmly against trespassing and other tomfoolery.)
The British police are advising homeowners to be aware of the problem – but they haven't exactly spelled out what people should do, short of draining the water from their pools. [Source: The Daily Telegraph.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
totally said 11:49PM on 6-24-2008
"...but they haven't exactly spelled out what people should do, short of draining the water from their pools."
erm...a dog?
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Tigre said 1:16AM on 6-25-2008
Someone would get shot if they were to do this here in the states. It's just a matter of time b4 it goes from "just using the pool" to breaking into people houses. Whether it's to use to restroom or create mayhem. Just watch ;)
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Little Miss said 10:23PM on 6-27-2008
You know, not all kids are bad. Even ones doing something like this probably aren't going to break into someone's house.
Tigre said 1:41AM on 6-28-2008
Your right not all kids are bad but you have to think about mob mentality. You have a group and some members in the group start to create mayhem guess what's going to happen????... the others will join in. By themselves they most likely will never commit the crime but the need to fit in and pressure from others (whether it's verbal or in the person's head) will make the individual join in.
langx said 4:45AM on 6-25-2008
Tigre:: I agree completely.
You probably won't see it stateside because one of those kids would get shot in America.
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tweetymom said 4:43AM on 6-26-2008
Mount an IP camera with a motion sensor to monitor your pool. Panasonic makes one for around $300, and it works with a wireless router and can tilt and pan via remote controls on a smart phone. Tie the motion sensor into your your alarm system to alert your cell phone and then you can check it out using the camera link and call the police if needed. The alarm company I use won't call police directly for outdoor motion sensors because of frequency of false alarms.
karmellkreem said 8:48AM on 6-26-2008
It's happened plenty of times stateside - my friends and I used to do it. But we weren't stupid enough to leave the evidence, or post it online and tell everybody. What a bunch of idiots.
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BBB said 6:06PM on 6-26-2008
I was thinking the same thing, only it was in the 60's and 70's when we did it. We would even climb the fence of the public pools after midnight. You just had to know when to stay still, and be quiet.
Again, never left evidence.
Needless to say, when my kids were teens I checked 3 or 4 times a night to make sure they were where they were suppose to be.
Barbara Thompson said 6:12PM on 6-26-2008
When I was a kid growing up on the beaches...summer time meant one thing...POOL HOPPING !!! We would hit all the motel hotel pools all along the strip on St.Pete Beach !! We had a blast !! I'm 51 now and those are some my favorite memories of my youth.
mesege646 said 10:25AM on 6-26-2008
wow,
such a good idea. I'm deff gonna have to try that.
thanks.
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me said 2:07PM on 6-26-2008
We started doing this 35 years ago in New Jersey (US).
We called it "Pool Hopping".
Nothing new here, it's been going on for decades.
We didn't need Google Earth to find a pool either, we knew our neighborhood because we didn't spend 5 hours a day on a computer.
We were busy finding escape routes from the police.
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undrgrndgirl said 2:12PM on 6-26-2008
...as soon as a homeowner DOES drain his/her pool and some half-in-the-bag facebooker jumps in without noticing the pool is EMPTY it will be the HOMEOWNER's fault...
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kim said 3:22PM on 6-26-2008
Either that or kids will just start bring their skateboards and skating the pools like they did back in they day.
BrerRabit said 3:47PM on 6-26-2008
lol as soon as everyone staarts draining their pools, all the skaters, myself included are just gonna start skating the hell out of all of them. its lords of dogtown Z-boys all over again.
RILEYXRSMOM said 4:03PM on 6-26-2008
Once your pool is drained then it because a skater party. Trust me.
Kenzie said 5:04PM on 6-26-2008
I don't see how. It's their pool, and kids are trespassing. It's entirely the child's fault for trespassing and then stupidly jumping into an empty pool.
Susan said 1:53AM on 6-28-2008
The homeowner drains the pool and some idiot jumps in it will NOT be the homeowners fault because the pool hopper was trespassing...........You trespass onto someones property the property owner is not at fault with what happens to the idiot that trespassed. It is the trespassers fault for being where they didn't belong.
Buckwheat said 2:15PM on 6-26-2008
Thats a good way to get shot today !
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Linda said 2:18PM on 6-26-2008
Being a pool owner in the USA this does not concern me as I know what I would do being a dog owner who does not like trepassers, smiles. My two JRT will not let them out until the police arrive, homeowners have rights, first NO TRESPASSING signs then lets see what happens, Linda
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Ten said 6:13PM on 6-26-2008
Jack Russels? Ooh, I'd be scared of a couple of little yappers like that. Please.