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September 26, 2019 11:30 pm

Uber Stopped Its Own Investigators From Reporting Crimes To the Police

The special investigations team inside Uber, which fields complaints from riders and drivers, is not allowed to escalate those issues to law enforcement or file official police reports "even when they get confessions of felonies," according to The Washington Post. They are also not allowed to advise victims or potential victims of crimes to seek legal counsel, according to the report, which was based on interviews with "more than 20 current and former investigators" who worked at Uber's investigations unit in Arizona. The Verge reports: The investigators are also allegedly instructed to "first to protect Uber" and make sure it is "not held liable" for any crimes that are committed by people using the company's ride-hailing platform. In that vein, the investigators told the paper that even the language they use when communicating with alleged victims is carefully worded to avoid the appearance that Uber is taking a side. The investigators also said they're not supposed to specifically ask alleged perpetrators about claims against them. Uber told the Post that it's "the victim's choice to report an incident to police," a position the company tells The Verge it arrived at after consulting experts. That said, the company has started giving people the "option to allow [Uber] to contact law enforcement on their behalf" if the customer is reporting an incident that may be a crime, according to the Post. "At the end of the day, we're not the judge and jury to determine whether a crime has occurred," Tracey Breeden, Uber's global head of women's safety, told the Post. "We're here to gather information, make a business decision. We're not law enforcement." In a statement to The Verge, a spokesperson for Uber said the company has "made substantial investments in both the [special investigations] team and in our safety technology, policies and processes," and that investigators "receive more targeted training based on years of guidance from experts in the field." "We are very proud of this team's work and know they approach their jobs with tremendous compassion and understanding," the spokesperson said. "Characterizing this team as anything but providing support to people after a difficult experience is just wrong. We will continue to put safety at the heart of everything we do and implement new approaches, based on expert guidance, to the benefit of both our customers and employees."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/DUvqi0F6k_0/uber-stopped-its-own-investigators-from-reporting-crimes-to-the-police

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