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Phone: (289) 316-2573
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Office Locations: Forstner Law has a virtual office approach for client consultation. Zoom has become the norm in Courts since the advent of Covid. Forstner Law maintains administrative offices in Ajax. This information is publicly available through the Law Society of Ontario.
Serving Oshawa, Brooklin, Pickering, Whitby, Ajax, the GTA and the Durham Region
Call Now: (289) 316-2573
Legal Aid Clients Welcome
Open for Zoom or Phone Appointments
Lawrence Forstner, Criminal Lawyer in Oshawa, Expert Qualifications and Specialized Training:
Former Crown Attorney; Former Probation & Parole Officer; Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA), Sex Offender Risk Assessment, Strategic Initiatives in Community Supervision (STICS), Sex Offender Relapse Prevention, Substance Use / Anger Management Group Leader/ Trainer. ( https://ca.linkedin.com/in/forstnerlaw )
Contact
Forstner Law
We are offering Virtual Office Appointments by Zoom or Phone. Admin offices: see LSO website, public registry
Tel: 289-316-2573
Fax: 289-275-2226
Direct: 289-316-2578
Toll Free: 877-315-3375
Cell: 289-387-1911
Lawrence@ForstnerLaw.ca
Origins of the Forstner Law Logo
As your defence lawyer, I want you to be able to access me any way you can. @CrimDefence is my Facebook business page. You will be able to see links to comments I have made in recent news items, and to my tweets. To comment, click on the Forstner Law header in the feed. Please do comment on things you read, and as always, if I can be of service call me at 289 316 2573, email me at Lawrence@ForstnerLaw.ca or reach out using social networking sites. I am here to help you in difficult times.
Did You Know? Facebook is Used by Police
Forstner Law
Facebook Portal
Forstner Law on Facebook: @CrimDefence
It may not seem like the most unbelievable news to learn that the police are on Facebook, but yes that's right, the police use social media too! And I don't mean their personal Facebook accounts.
In fact, one of the first places police go when they are trying to figure out who might be involved in a crime is to the Facebook pages of people associated with events surrounding the crime or the actual victims. No, they don't think that the suspect will openly admit to a crime right on Facebook (although see below for a little story about that!). Instead, when the police are trying to put together what happened, they look at all the pictures that people or venues post. Who is standing close to the victim? Can we identify all the people in the photographs?
Then they begin digging. Who is known to police already? What do their criminal histories look like? There's a mint of information out there on social media that just jumps off the page.
It's the same for anybody really. If predators are looking for victims, they go to social media to see what sort of seemingly innocuous information they can find, that might help them to gather important biographical information that can be used to ferret out more useful information in the planning of crime. That's why we always tell our kids not to reveal too much. But what is too much?
For police, just seeing group pictures can be huge. If they have already figured out one person they suspect, all they have to do is put together the pieces of who is pictured most often with that individual. Then they begin digging into pictures on that persons profile. And so on.
Facebook is a great way for business owners to advertise and get known in their communities, but it is equally useful for a host of others, interested in gathering information.
Let's be honest, we've all 'creeped' a Facebook page or two - people we once had crushes on, or people we don't like. It's no different for the police.
And sometimes the police literally find gold on Facebook, like a case I know about from a few years ago. A group of friends had stormed a home and robbed jewelry and sports memorabilia from a crew they had 'befriended.' You guessed it, the next day they had posted pictures of themselves wearing it all on Facebook. They even had an impromptu rap about it on YouTube! Case Closed!