By Eloisa Ruano Gonzalez
Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — Investigators have long combed the Internet for clues leading to sexual predators and to catch prostitutes who advertise their services online.
Now, law-enforcement agencies increasingly are jumping on the social-networking bandwagon in a big way, posting surveillance videos, sketches and photos of suspects in hopes of solving crimes on sites that attract millions of Americans.
Agencies across the region, including Orlando and Kissimmee police, have joined social-network sites such as Facebook and MySpace, hoping the public will help identify suspects in assaults, robberies and homicides.
“It’s making the world a smaller place for criminals. . . no place to hide,” said Lakeland police Sgt. Terri Smith, who created a Facebook page in February.
Kissimmee police have posted crime-prevention tips and information on community events on Facebook since February.
The agency recently started posting crime bulletins.
Though police haven’t received any tips, police spokeswoman Stacie Miller said she is confident that in time the site will help.
Among the many posts, Miller put up bulletins asking for help on two unsolved murders. She posted pictures of Alejandro Rivera and Hector Santiago, who were robbed, shot and killed at the Willows Apartments off Carroll Street in 2006. She also put up information on the killings of David Manning and Johnny Lee Fisher III, who were found dead in a car nearly two years ago off Kelley Avenue and Van Lieu Street in Kissimmee.
More law-enforcement agencies are making a move to social-network sites because they’re easy to use and a quick way to spread information. It also gives them a chance to ask the public for help on more petty crimes that news outlets don’t pick up.
A handful of agencies throughout the country and worldwide have busted criminals after receiving tips from Facebook users. Police in Annapolis, Md., captured a thief in March after posting images from a surveillance video on their page. Facebookers in Maine recognized three teenagers who were caught trashing a hotel spa.
Police in Queenstown, New Zealand, made their first “Facebook arrest” in January when a man broke into a pub and tried to crack open a safe.
Within a day, Facebookers had recognized him and notified police.
“It’s the best way to promote their department without it boiling down to a sound bite or news brief,” said Stephanie Slater, spokeswoman for the Boynton Beach Police Department.
Slater will host a workshop on social networks at the Florida Law Enforcement Public Information Officers Association’s conference in June. She uses Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube to get out information. Slater helped the Polk County Sheriff’s Office launch its Facebook page last month.
Polk is building on its profile online after opening a MySpace account in 2007 to deter sexual predators from contacting children. Detectives asked youths to add the department to their “top friends” list to scare away any criminals.
“If you want to get the word to the public, Facebook is the way to go. [So are] Twitter and MySpace,” Polk Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said.
Copyright 2009 Orlando Sentinel