Plods Plod the Perilous Wikipedia Path

This weeks Police Review, which is essential reading for those involved in the depressing work of policing this country, carries an interesting story on page 4 concerning that font of all knowledge Wikipedia (www.policereview.com).

Apparently the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is advising the plod to search Wikipedia to verify their evidence prior to attending court. A former officer from the Met and advisor to the Home Office recounts being shown printouts from Wikipedia which were going to form part of officer's evidence to the court. Of course the printouts contained inaccuracies and I guess the officer faced the potential embarrassment of relying on dubious facts from Wikipedia.

As we all get lazier and increasingly rely on data sources such as Wikipedia to produce "facts" there is a real danger that factual inaccuracies will creep into our day to day lives. This is a perilous path that needs to be trodden with care.