Portsmouth Police Credit Social Media for Capturing Perps

Prior to the advent of the Internet, let alone social media, police officers have always relied on their training in the areas of fingerprints, crime scene investigations, fraud, etc. These types of trainings provide proven techniques to help solve crimes that occur all over the city and are skills that will continue to be used into the unforeseeable future, according to a press statement.

But one incredibly mighty, modern day tool that no one saw coming until it was actually upon us was social media. Harnessing the use of social media to aid police in solving crimes requires little training but yet it has become one of the most powerful tools the police use today.

According to Capt. Frank Warchol of the Portsmouth Police department, several crimes have been solved due the massive social interaction with the community at large.

Warchol said that they routinely request help from the general public to assist with identifying people, vehicles or any other information that they could possibly have that could help solve a crime. Just yesterday, the Portsmouth Police posted two pictures of two males that were captured on camera breaking into a building and rummaging through it. No sooner were those pictures posted did they receive information positively identifying who they were. If we did not have the type of technology we do today, this crime would have taken a very long time to solve, if it could have been solved at all, Warchol said.

Warchol stated that the Portsmouth Police Department has been using social media (specifically Facebook and Twitter) since 2009 and will continue to stay on the cutting edge of technology in an effort to provide the best services it can to the community.