It’s
common knowledge that most criminals aren’t the smartest people around. Many of them are so proud of their crimes
that they feel the need to tell people about them. This has happened a lot in the past, but now,
that just about everyone has at least one social media account, the criminals
now have a wider audience they can brag to.
Before social media, it took a while for word to spread about how
“George” burglarized 10 houses in one night.
Now, with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the word can go out immediately
to thousands of people.
While
spreading the word mouth-to-mouth took a while, it also took the police to
catch up with these criminals. Social
media, along with the egos of criminals, has now made arresting some of these
crooks a quick, simple process. Things
go a lot quicker for the police when criminals are posting about their crimes
on Facebook and Twitter, posting pictures of their “haul” on Instagram and even
posting videos of the crime, as it’s happening, on YouTube. Like I said, criminals
aren’t the smartest people around.
While
criminals have long discovered that bragging about crimes they commit on social
media lets people know how “bad” they are, the police are now discovering how
to use Pinterest as a means to catch criminals.
In Redwood City, California, police have used Pinterest to post photos
of items recovered from arrests in order to return them to their rightful
owners. Detective Dave Stahler had
success using Pinterest in February when he posted a picture of a family heirloom
that was recovered among other stolen jewelry.
Three users called in tips within a few hours of the post going up.
In
Richmond, Virginia, police have used Pinterest to solve murder cases and a town
in Pennsylvania set up a Pinterest board to post mug shots. Arrests for theft, sexual assault and fraud
have seen a 57% increase since this board was set up. Hopefully, more towns will see the usefulness
of this and begin their own mug shot boards.
