Police departments finding crime-fighting uses for social media
When the Huntington Bank branch in McDonald was robbed a year ago, borough police took to social media to help them get a photograph of the culprit out to the public.
About 48 hours after the March 31, 2014, hold-up, they had their man after receiving tips from people who saw the photo on Facebook, recognized the suspect and provided police with a name.
“It was great using Facebook after the robbery,” said McDonald Officer Michael Dhanse, who handles the department’s Facebook page. “We got a copy of the photo of the bank robber and posted it on Facebook. People could see it within seconds. You just can’t get it out there any quicker.”
A relative of the robber, who now lives out of state, saw the post, notified police and provided a name.
“It turned out to be him,” Dhanse said.
More recently, the page got about 11,000 hits when police were getting the word out about a woman who was robbed at an automated teller machine in Burgettstown.
Last week, Smith Township police shared information on their Facebook page when a former resident who is awaiting trial for a homicide in West Virginia escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Weston, W.Va., where he had been taken for a mental health evaluation. Smith police Chief Bernie LaRue said his department got several tips of possible sightings of Rocco Zuccaro in the area. Zuccaro was captured by West Virginia state police two days after his escape about 10 miles from the hospital.
The two departments are among a growing number in Washington County using Facebook and Twitter to get the word out.
John Hartman, chief of the Southwest Regional police department, was a pioneer in this area in the use of social media. His department handles calls for Coal Center and Union Township in Washington County and Gray, Morris, Perry and Wayne townships in Greene County as well as several Fayette County communities.
“I think we were one of the first in Southwestern Pennsylvania to use social media,” Hartman said. “We use Facebook, Twitter and Nixle alerts. I also maintain a blog page.”
“I use it to reach out to the community,” he added. “We put out our news releases about the crimes in the different areas for not only the media, but for our residents.”
Hartman said social media is an effective way to reach out to the 18,000 residents in the 10 communities in three counties patrolled by Southwest.
“It has proven to be an invaluable resource,” Hartman said. “We make sure we get the message out as to what is happening in their community.”
Maintaining the pages does require some work.
“You have to make sure the information you are putting out is accurate,” he added.
Southwest has also had success in using social media, particularly Facebook, to catch a criminal. Followers of the page have sent the department private messages that have led to arrests. Hartman also uses it to post photographs of suspects being sought by the department.
But social media is used for more than just tracking down criminals. McDonald police started their Facebook page a year ago after Chief Mark Dorsey saw other departments using it.
“We put information about road closures, the drug take-back program or child safety seat inspections on it to let the residents know what is going on, or post warnings about scams,” Dhanse said. “We have also used it to solicit tips from residents, like when we had recent vandalism in the Avella area.”
LaRue started his department’s Facebook page last summer.
“Much of what I use it for is to get information out to the residents, although I have even gotten some tips on it,” LaRue said. “I’ll post weather alerts from the 911 center, too, and alert them to road conditions.”
He has even posted information about lost or found pets in the township.
The Pennsylvania state police maintain a Facebook page, but it contains only some basic information about the organization, unlike West Virginia state police, which operates an active page where news releases and stories involving troopers are posted. Trooper Matthew Jardine, public information officer for Troop B in Washington, said that the state police page is not used for anything in real time.
“Later this year, the public information officers will be meeting to discuss social media and get a better understanding of how we can use it,” Jardine said.