Top Aussie cops claim that Facebook is hampering police investigations and putting lives at risk.

The Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner and head of high tech crime operations, Neil Gaughan is jetting off to a meeting convened by the US Department of Justice in which senior law enforcement officials from around the world will discuss their concerns with the social networking website.

He is understood to be going to tell the Americans that the social notworking site has been unwilling to provide police with the intelligence they need for investigations. They want Facebook to appoint a dedicated law enforcement liaison in Australia who can, for example, match user accounts to physical internet addresses.

“This situation could lead to loss of life, there's no doubt about that at all,” Gaughan told the Aussie press that it was all just a matter of time.