/ 17 September 2010

Cops set sights on ‘PigSpotter’

Police are on the hunt for a "PigSpotter", a Twitter user who posts the locations of speed traps on Johannesburg's streets, media said on Thursday.

Police are on the hunt for a “PigSpotter”, a Twitter user who posts the locations of speed traps and roadblocks on Johannesburg’s streets, local media said on Thursday.

“Pigs [a slang term for police] trapping in the bushes on Bowling Avenue, just before 12th,” read one post on Thursday. “There’s a permanent pork rash stuck on Coleraine towards Rivonia trapping criminals freeflowing downhill,” said another.

Thousands of similarly cheeky messages have appeared on the micro-blogging site Twitter since June, drawing 7 500 followers for the user name “PigSpotter”.

Police aren’t amused.

“He is not just insulting the metro police. He is insulting all officers in uniform. These are people who have got families, and he is using that vulgar language,” police spokesperson Wayne Minaar told the Star.

Police are mulling charges of defamation and defeating the ends of justice, arguing that revealing the location of roadblocks could help criminals on the run evade arrest, he said.

PigSpotter has refused to reveal his identity. He told the Star that as a goodwill gesture he would stop pointing out roadblocks, but would keep helping speeders. — AFP