Facebook Photos Lead to Underage Drinking Fines
We've seen wives pose as teens to bust cheating husbands and collections agencies impersonate cute girls to catch debt dodgers, but this is the first time we've ever heard of police using their precious time to send teens friend requests on Facebook just to troll their photos for evidence of underage drinking.Students at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse have found themselves on the wrong end of a seemingly major sting operation. According to the La Crosse Tribune, at least four students from the school have been invited to court and fined for underage drinking over the past few weeks. The pieces of evidence presented in all the cases have been photos taken from the students' Facebook pages. One of those in trouble, Adam Bauer, told the Tribune that he believes the photos were obtained by police who posed as a "good-looking" 19-year-old girl and sent him a friend request about a month ago. Shortly thereafter Bauer was asked to come into the local police precinct.
Bauer wasn't shy about sharing his feelings about the methods, either, making allusions to '1984' and saying, "They are always watching." Another student busted on Facebook, sophomore Tyrell Luebker, called the practice "shady" and "a waste of taxpayer money," when interviewed by the Tribune. Luebker and Bauer aren't in the minority, either. Fellow sophomore Brianna Niesen worried that the practice would discourage students from calling police to report serious crimes for fear of being nabbed for underage drinking.
We certainly don't condone drunken youngsters here at Switched, but we do find ourselves agreeing with the students on this one. Police have better things to do than troll Facebook and MySpace, hunting for photos of college kids holding 40s. [From: La Crosse Tribune]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
chris said 8:21PM on 11-20-2009
It would seem to me that this should actually qualify as a violation of the fourth amendment (search and seizure). For the same reason an officer cannot come to your front door in disguise and ask to come in for a drink of water and then "steal" items from your home to use as evidence against you, this should be considered a violation in front of any judge. Sad
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Lotte said 9:47PM on 11-20-2009
WRONG! F-, YOU FAIL! When you put something on any of those "social sites", you are putting them out there, IN PUBLIC!!! Anything in public view IS fair game, no need for warrants and the "search and seizure" laws do NOT apply....another baby whining because they were caught!
And there is a very good reason to bust underage drinkers (and to keep an eye on so-called "adult" drinkers)...they often become drinkers who drive - death and destruction often ensue...and unfortunately NOT just their own. In fact, too often THEY survive and the innocents are the ones who do not! Oh, and yeah, it's ILLEGAL and they're breaking the law!
Get over yourselves, learn to enjoy life WITHOUT needing to alter your perceptions with booze!
MJZimmer88 said 8:42PM on 11-21-2009
I agree, this definitely borders illegal search and seizure in my book. If a Facebook profile is 'private' and only friends can see photos and posts, and the police have no reason to already suspect there is illegal activity already going on, then a little underage drinking is no worse than this ridiculous deception. The police should be catching criminals and putting those who harm society behind bars... not stalking children online so they can give them a little fine.
Granted my opinion may change when I'm older, but this just seems like a cop was trying to find an excuse for why he was always on Facebook instead of working.
kat said 8:29PM on 11-20-2009
Ok if it was by that photo how do they know 100% what's in the red cups. There are how many missing people in the States and they waste their time with this. Can see some one asking a cop "have you ever caught a killer" cop "um no but I caught kids getting drunk in photos on facebook"
Also if you can die at war when your 18 why cant you drink at 18.
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Sherry said 8:37PM on 11-20-2009
How can ANYONE bust someone for what they THINK is alcohol in a cup from a photograph? The fact is that no one was there to verify it. It's all heresay. For all anyone knows, someone could set a police officer up and have Dr. Pepper in their plastic red cups. I agree, also, there are far too many people "watching" college kids on facebook. These people are our law enforcement officers, not watching pedophiles, but watching our college students. I don't condone underage drinking; however, if you're 18 and serving our country, then you ought to be able to moderately imbibe. jmo.
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decchamp said 8:50PM on 11-20-2009
Many underage military people do drink but the fact is they are still underage and often unable to control themselves while drinking. The behavior of underaged men and women who drink is very well documented. They are dangerous to themselves and others, that is why the age restriction is in place. Go to your insurance agent and ask him to give you the statistics on underaged drinkers. They cost the insurance companies a lot of money.
As for your comment about the cups and what was in them, I would bet that those mature sophomores were bragging in bold letters what was going on while they were trying to impress the "young chick" they were on Facebook with. Be careful Sherry, if you get too close to this, you may turn into an adult who gives alcohol to an underaged person who goes out and kills themself or someone else and it is learned who got them drunk. Is them drinking a couple years early worth the years you'd spend in jail?
decchamp said 8:52PM on 11-20-2009
These kids got caught trying to act grown up when they aren't. Now to prove just how ungrown they are, they are whining about the things that police could do better with their time. In other words, "give the kid a chance mister."
The law is that you can't drink until you're 21, darned few sophomores have attained that age. Now many of them will say that they've been drinking since high school and the answer to that is that you used up all your luck.
Now back in the days of the draft, the busted babies would whine that they can go overseas and get shot at but they can't drink. That was a true statement then and still is but as a military veteran I can tell you that an under aged kid is a bit of a liability to start with, when he's drunk he's totally useless and boring. So you see, the laws are saving you from yourself. They aren't out to get you, they're out to get you to act your age.
With that, I say Bravo to those police and just shut up babies.
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Jennifer said 6:47PM on 11-30-2009
First of all, you can't really call them kids when they are 20 years old and last time I checked, you become an adult when you turn 18. Also, they are not whinning about this they are defending what they think should be their right to privacy. My question for you is how did this law save anyone? If there had been underage drinking, (which can't be proven by pictures) the law had already been broken and there was already no harm done. Who was hurt by their act of leisurely drinking with a few friends? No one!
josh said 8:46PM on 11-20-2009
youd like to think police departments have better things to spend time and money on then tricking 18 and 19 year old adults for the sake of a few measly dollars in underage drinking fines..... but obviously they dont
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elle said 10:39PM on 11-21-2009
Fourth Amendment, child please. There are bigger violations of the 4th Amendment that you don't care about because they only happen to poor people or brown people, but some moron college babies get caught doing something you once did and it's OH GOD CALL THE COURTS
How much does it cost to open a Facebook profile? Nothing. To send a friend request? Nothing. To view the photos? Nothing.
So the time it took? Maybe an hour? Two, tops? At cop wages, that's, what, $50 at most? The fines would cover that a few times over.
Take the rest and give a bonus to the cop who came up with this, for getting these dumb-ass kids to understand that posting public photos of stupid behavior is a bad idea. Call me when cops use this to bust people who aren't breaking the law OH WAIT, that ALREADY happens for every major political protest about things that ACTUALLY MATTER.
You kids need to learn to focus your rage better. It's why nobody takes you seriously. Why aren't you all this angry about the drinking age? You really want to do something about this? GET THE DAMN DRINKING AGE LOWERED.
qsharris1 said 11:23PM on 11-20-2009
One of the "safe" things about facebook was the fact that you can't just spam request people. You MUST know them. It's a violation of user terms to do so. I accidentally had a post show up three times back-to-back and I got an infraction!
You better believe that whenever I get a request from someone I don't know, I message them and politely ask them to refresh my memory. No reply to my satisfaction=no accept! Just think... it's your place of work, DOB, and schedule that can end up on there! Frat guys.. don't fall for that Trojan horse!
Also, if one of the students inquires of the fake girl profile of how they know each other, and the cops say, ..."from a party..." or any other lie, they may REALLY be in it then! It really makes them no different from any other phisher or app that hijacks your info and wreaks havoc on your life!
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Celeste said 9:10PM on 11-20-2009
This is ridiculous. I agree with the kid who made allusions to "1984." When I was in college it was legal to drink at 18 in many states. By raising the drinking age we criminalized a generation and pushed them into infantile behavior. People were not playing beer pong when I was in college. We were drinking at student-faculty parties and you learned how to drink sensibly because you didn't want to make a jerk of yourself in front of your professors.
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alilangel0 said 9:11PM on 11-20-2009
Personally, I feel that whatever you put on the internet is fair game. You know that it leaves a virtual footprint forever, even if you delete your facebook later on. These kids just learned a lesson they will never forget. If you don't want people looking at your facebook, don't make one. I think the next generation is in for a rude awakening when they start running for office or getting high profile jobs. These facebook pages are going to come back to bite them! Live and learn and quit complaining about it!
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Szpytek said 9:16PM on 11-20-2009
Yeah, maybe the cops busting 19-year-olds seems a bit of a waste, but think about how great it is to see your taxpayer money (in the form of Pell Grants, federal loans, and scholarships) being spent on beer bongs and hookas.
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JCx924 said 9:26PM on 11-20-2009
The legal age of drinking in other countries is 18 years old .....Check their statistics I think you might be surprised that they don't have these problems cause drinking is not made to be such a big deal and they are taught to respect it ....here they try to keep you from it so you want it more...just like nudity , other countries dont have the same problems as we do cause its not that big of a deal.....As a mother you cant even breast feed in public without someone being offended by it and in European countries there is nudity on television and all so they see it as just another day if they see a boob or butt or private parts....just think about it and you might know what the real deal of this country is ....Its all about control ......You think you're free but you really arent...There are more laws here then anywhere....And the fact that they can take you to war and you cant drink is a legitimate argument, if you think otherwise , you must be retarded.....
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Jay said 9:26PM on 11-20-2009
I just cant believe cops would go to this extent!! FOR COLLEGE KIDS DRINKING
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gr8bsn said 9:33PM on 11-20-2009
This can all be avoided if you take two seconds to make sure that you're security settings are locked down . No one has to see your profile unless you want them to. Also, this is why you don't friend people you don't know.
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Troy said 9:41PM on 11-20-2009
The cops should spend more of their idle time setting up other "Bad Cops" and "Real Criminals". This is a complete waste of time. As a former Wisconsin resident, I think the community should be disgusted with this rediculous waste of time. This is just Lazy Police Work. How about getting out on the streets and doing you job - "To Protect and To Serve". Somewhere along the line it has turned into - "To Harrass and Intimidate". Let's try something different, like real police work and catching Real Bad Guys !!!
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sports_mom860 said 9:54PM on 11-20-2009
The law is the law, 21 is the legal age for drinking alcohol. All you have to do is talk to a parent or someone who has lost a loved one due to alcohol. You may consider yourself a grown up at 18 but your brain hasn't even completely developed, your frontal cortex is the last to mature, and that is the part of the brain that makes decisions. I lost a child due to a 19 year old drinking and then decided to get in his carand try to drive 3 blocks home. He still has his life. Where is my child? What was she doing just driving home from work to be killed by this irresponsible child?
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Master Chief said 9:57PM on 11-20-2009
Book those pothead drunks. And kick them out of college too.
College should be for people who want to learn. Want to party all day, go to a bar.
They should also beat the crap out of them just for being stupid.
But please, make sure you do it where no one around can record/photograph the beating...
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