British police chiefs want warnings on dating apps

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November 25, 2016 | Online

British police chiefs want warnings on dating apps

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in the United Kingdom wants dating apps to “take more responsibility” for protecting users.

The recommendation follows a series of murders that took place after people met up through gay dating apps.

This week, 41-year-old serial killer Stephen Port from London was found guilty of murdering four men, all in their early twenties, that he met through Grindr.

At the same time, 18-year-old Ben Bamford from East Sussex was sent to prison for murdering Paul Jeffries, 52, in a sustained knife attack. Though they initially met through an app, they continued to meet over several years before the killing took place.

And finally Gordon Semple, 59, was strangled by Stefano Brizzi. (The too-gruesome-to-share details can be found here.) Brizzi was found guilty earlier this month in a UK court.

Every day men hook up with other men through apps. Often the worst thing to happen is a no-show, or the discovery that the picture does not quite match the actual face at your door. But the dangers of meeting a stranger are real.

Police lead for LGBT issues in London, Chief Constable Jane Sawyers, said apps “could do more to prevent crimes happening in the first place."

She is suggesting messages like “Get to know the person, not the profile” to remind people to be cautious.

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She also acknowledged that the real numbers of bad hook-ups -- resulting in robbery or physical assault -- are not really known. Many gay men don't feel confident they'll get a fair hearing from police when reporting a crime.

“There shouldn’t be any concerns about gay people reporting things to police… we’re not there to judge, what we’re interested in is justice for the individual," she said.

Some tips:

- Text a friend when you are going to meet someone.

- Ask for more than one photo from a potential hook-up. Then run the photos through Google images or Tineye.com to make sure the pic isn't from 100 blogs or of a model from Europe.

- Meet somewhere in public first (yes, even if this is a purely sexual hook-up!).

- And trust your gut; if something feels wrong, don't go through with it.

The bottom line is to be careful.

November 25, 2016 | Online

British police chiefs want warnings on dating apps

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