Social media may be being blamed for the role it played in the U.K. riots, but the authorities are finding that it has its uses during the aftermath, as well.
The Greater Manchester Police have been using Twitter and Flickr to identify people who took part in the riots, as well as announcing names and locations of those arrested, charged and convicted of crimes to the internet.
(More: Cell Phones Stolen During the London Riots Will Be Blocked)
The initiative—called “Shop A Looter”—is being positioned as community rebuilding; one tweet announced, “You helped to clean up our streets, now help us clean up the criminals.”
In that sense, it’s probably providing some sense of closure, or at least activity, to a community coming to terms with everything that’s been happening. But I can’t help but feel that putting the guilty on display like this feels a bit too close to revenge instead of justice.
More: U.K. Government Considers Blocking Twitter, BlackBerry in Wake of Riots
Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.