Police do not have the resources to have officers trawl through community Facebook pages looking for photographs and videos of dangerous driving – Cllrs have been told.
Cllrs from across Keighley and Ilkley were given an update on work to tackle road safety in the Constituency at a meeting of Bradford Council’s Keighley Area Committee on Thursday.
Among the measures being taken to stop dangerous driving is Operation Snap – a system where members of the public can submit videos of dangerous driving, including dash cam footage, to police.
If the vehicle and driver is identified, then they can be fined or prosecuted.
Members of the area committee pointed out that local community Facebook pages were awash with images and videos of bad driving and illegal parking.
They asked whether police were able to use these images to track down dangerous drivers.
Keighley Inspector John Barker, of the constituency’s Neighbourhood Policing Team, said it was important that such videos or reports be officially submitted to police, rather than shared on social media with the assumption it will lead to any action.
He said: “We don’t have the resources to try to fish things from social media.
“The other issue is we don’t know who took the picture and when. You’ll often see the same picture shared on pages like Born in Keighley or Raised in Silsden and you don’t know where the original image has come from.”
