The Arlington County Police Department in Virginia is using YouTube to help catch criminals.
Surveillance video from crime scenes is being uploaded to the Web site in an effort to receive leads and identify suspects. A two- minute video of a bank robbery received more than 1,000 hits and could be responsible for providing a lead in the case.
“Everbody’s using YouTube, so there’s no reason police departments shouldn’t use it too,” Arlington police spokesman John Lisle told the Washington Post. “We don’t know for sure that the lead is related to YouTube but we think it might be,” Lisle said. “YouTube is just another way to reach more people, maybe even a brand-new audience.”
Wendy Balazik, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said she did not know of other law enforcement agencies using YouTube to solve cases, but that it made sense. “It doesn’t surprise me, though. It’s the next logical step,” she said.
Some in law enforcement view it another way. “We’ve never tried it and probably never will,” said Officer Henry Tippett, a spokesman for the Prince George’s County Police Department. “There’s all kinds of crazy videos on there . . . people getting in fights, whatever.”
Tippett said putting up material from the police next to such videos could make the police department “look bad.” “It’s just bad, bad publicity,” he said.
Lisle still believes YouTube is a useful tool. “If it solves a case, its worth it to us,” he said. “Let’s face it a lot more people are using YouTube than visiting any police department Web site.”
