MALDEN (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - The Malden Police Department is straying away from old-fashioned
detective work and turning to YouTube in order to crack the case.
The
city of Malden struggles with the same crimes as every other city, but
their approach to solving cases is cutting edge.
Police are
reaching out to the community and uploading unsolved crime footage to
YouTube.
"It's an idea the department had a few weeks ago. A way
of blending a popular social networking too with something the
department has a lot of [video footage]."
Since video footage is
the most common form of evidence, police created a YouTube channel
posting surveillance videos of suspect that are currently on the loose.
The
video footage comes local businesses, but also from numerous cameras
positioned throughout the city.
"We've had the Youtube Channel,
public safety awareness online forums, we have our own Facebook page so
we've really been trying to collaborate on trying to reduce crime."
Under
each YouTube clip is a description of which person police are trying to
identify and a number the public can call with information. People can
also leave an anonymous tip on the department's website.
"I would
hope we're ahead of the curve but we're just trying to use the
technologies as best we can to our advantage."
The city plans to
continue to use social networking sites for increased public safety.
