Could Blogs Help Stop Crime?
April 27, 2005
After unsuccessful attempts to track down a smut peddler, a police detective
decided to try something different. A computer expert digitally erased the girl from the photos, and in February, Gillespie asked the public to help identify the locations: a hotel room, a fountain, an elevator and a video arcade.
Moments after the pictures appeared on a Toronto television station, the tips began to come, and caller after caller identified a Disney World hotel in Florida. A scan of hotel records gave the police a few clues. They believe some of the pictures were taken by a relative on a family vacation and the rest were taken at a residence.
Tracking down child p*rnographers is difficult due to masking software. But many images include landmarks and other reference points that mean nothing to most of us, but that could be identified by locals. With this in mind, why don't state and federal police officers start a CrimeBlog?
Police could post images of landmarks, which blog readers could help identify. It would be easy to do; and it would be very successful.
Of course, the bad guys would eventually catch on and find other ways to elude capture. But many arrests and convictions could flow from perverts caught in the delta.
Other than bureaucratic nonsense, what good reason would there be to not implement this project?