There was an interesting piece over at USA Today that looked at the use of YouTube and Twitter by police departments. Many agencies are using these social media sites to help solve crimes.
The Kansas City Police Department has posted at least 46 surveillance videos on their YouTube channel hoping for tips.
"It's been very successful, especially for our robbery unit," spokeswoman Sarah Boyd says. "Detectives are much more likely to put the video up because they know it's so easy."
Posting surveillance videos to YouTube gives the media instant access so they can spread the footage quickly, Boyd says.
With the proliferation of video surveillance technology, even relatively minor crimes often have video evidence. Tools like YouTube make it much easier to share these videos worldwide with just a few clicks.
Is your agency using YouTube or similar sites to distribute surveillance videos? If not, why not?
