Encore: Johnston Police Use Website to Search for Suspects, Witnesses

When officers in the  run out of leads in their search for criminal suspects or witnesses, they have a new tool to use to help generate leads.

In December, the Johnston Police Department officially launched I.D. Me, an internet-based program that seeks the public's help in identifying persons of interest in local investigations. The pictures of those sought are posted on the department's website.

While the person in question could be a suspect, there are many times it can be used to identify witnesses, said Lt. Lynn Aswegan with the Johnston Police Department.

"We actually got turned on by a similar program in Urbandale," Aswegan said. "We were made aware of the program and thought it would be beneficial and useful to our program to get information to the community and public."

The department was able to follow the basics of the program, working with the information technology department at City Hall to get the program up and running.

Then it was a bit of a waiting game.

"There was a period that we didn't want to market until we had something to put up," Aswegan said.

The first post was made on Dec. 7, regarding someone sought for questioning about several bad check passed in Johnston and surrounding areas.

"We can use it for any law enforcement related case, there is no restriction necessarily," he said. "We could use it to identify suspects, to try to identify possible witnesses, and to try to identify people we need to talk to to get more information.

"We don't want people to automatically assume the picture is of a suspect," Aswegan said. "It could be interest to get more information."

While the department will try to keep the posts as local as possible, there are some situations where neighboring police department posts will be used.

The program will be used when there are few other options avaialbe.

"We figured, these are people we've exhausted our efforts on," he said. "So there is nothing to lose by opening it to the public."

Of the five cases currently posted on the department's website, two have been identified.

"We wanted to let people know the program is beneficial and working," Aswegan said of the red identified banner over the photos.

While the department won't send out alerts of I.D. Me postings, Aswegan said it will be posted on the department's Facebook page to notify residents.