NYPD Couldn't Find Mugger For 3 Weeks, But Social Media Users “Catch” Him in 1 Hour?

** I did search for this, please handle accordingly if this has been posted already **

After the NYPD had failed to catch the man behind a brutal mugging on Mar. 9, they released a video of the crime Tuesday in hopes of gaining leads. And within minutes, they surely did. Gawker posted the video on its site on Tuesday night at 11:49 P.M. Within an hour, a commenter by the username " secretsout" wrote: "https://www.facebook.com/Stugotz27 link to most likely suspect. take care of business guys."

Source

I’m not sure what to make of this beyond Social Media has some positive benefits. I am also curious about the possibilities of “Internet Bounty Hunters” in the future.
Posses of online crime busters teaming up to track down criminals and reap the financial rewards?

The headline from the website is slightly misleading in the context of what they are actually reporting as there is no mention the police were looking for this man for three weeks apart from the crime being committed on 9th March 2013. It's quite clear the police would have pursued all possible lines of investigation before making the footage of the suspects public. Social media is so powerful, nearly everyone uses it and if you have been silly enough to commit a crime and your image is made public then someone will know who you are. I do understand there are some legalities and most countries haven't got round to changing the law when it comes to social media and using information from those websites. Suspects were never usually identified via Facebook or Twitter.

How many police do you think were looking for this guy? Probably one guy. And that one guy probably also had 20 other crimes he was investigating at the time.

Where as, millions of people are on social media, when you have millions of people keeping an eye out for someone, it's pretty obvious they could find them quicker than one guy, who already had other stuff on his plate.

This article shows absolutely nothing other than that millions of people will accomplish a task faster than a single individual would, which we already knew. It doesn't show a lack of ability on the behalf of the police.

FYI, I wasn't posting this show any deficiencies in police work (that is best left for a different thread). I was looking at it from the angle of the benefits online communities can offer in situations like this and where it could lead in the future.

Theres a lot more people with time on there hands to waste on FB than cops to hunt a mugger i'd imagine.

I saw something like this the other day, an autistic girl was beaten, i think raped too by a guy and his partner. Many comments about it then someone looks up and says that they are hiding away in a flat in another town, thats why they couldn't be found where the crime occurred.

Has it's benefits sometimes i guess.

CX.

I like the idea of a Cyber Super Hero who investigates crimes online. A secret P.I. who is a rich playboy by day and hi tech crime fighter by night. Lets switch that and make it playboy by night and crime fighter by day.

reply to post by MichiganSwampBuck


I think he should be bubba the buck toothed trailer park maintenance man by day. Then crimefighter by night with a hog named Congress for a side kick. Red Green could make all his top secret gadgets that he uses.

NYPD is not about catching criminals. It is about generating income.

while i am glad to see that a mugger was caught , i think this whole story will only help someones agenda to turn the people on each other . so are people going to now surf social media and try and turn people in for other crimes? is someone going to see something in someones pic and contact the "authorities" and make sure that certain items were gained lawfully and that all taxes were paid? I know there is already trolls who do this work for the gov , but if you can get the people to police themselves , that will free up time for nefarious governmental departments to find other avenues of control .

reply to post by groingrinder


Red Green is the man for the job. I met him once at a PBS station in Minnesota.

Okok before we compare social media and police. Does the name "secretsout" ring a bill with anonymous tipping? So my guess is it is someone who is familiar with him. I bet the guy calls him a snitch.