CRIME PREVENTION- Be Thoughtful Before Posting Video

Security video has become a good tool in identifying crimes and criminals. Every day we see videos and pictures of suspects allegedly committing crimes on the TV news and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Police use the pictures to identify and find suspects of crimes often with the public’s help. They may post them on their own Facebook and Twitter accounts, in press releases that are picked up by the local press, or through Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound.

As a rule, local police may post pictures when they do not know who the suspects are or where they can be found. Police will check internally first to identify suspects and if they cannot, in certain situations, they will release the photos asking for help on who the suspects are and/or where the suspects can be found.

Citizens frequently post pictures of suspects, people taking packages off front porches, car prowling at night, and other suspicious activity. Photos and video help alert neighbors about crime and suspicious activity.

As a part of government, police need to follow the fourth amendment which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure. As Chief Kathleen Larson of the Woodinville Police Department points out, police have more stringent rules that they must follow than the average citizen, so they are very cautious in releasing information. Mistakes can compromise investigations.

While the fourth amendment only applies to government, there is concern that posting photos/videos by citizens could cause problems. Some people warn that posting videos can cause retaliation, lawsuits and vigilantism (people taking the law into their own hands). While there have not been any recent examples of lawsuits or retaliation reported in the press, local law enforcement officials remain concerned that problems could arise when a citizen posts a photo or video before checking with police.

For example, a picture of a vehicle that may look suspicious to you may turn out to be an innocent occurrence. It may be worth calling 911 to let police know what is going on but posting a photo may cause some people to jump to conclusions and take inappropriate actions.  

One thing Chief Larson and Sgt Nathan Alanis of the Snohomish Police Department both agree on is that a victim of a crime should check with the investigating officer or deputy before releasing any pictures on social media. Doing so gives them the opportunity to advise whether release of the pictures would help or hinder the investigation. The goal for both you, the victim, and law enforcement should be to apprehend the right perpetrators and to enable the prosecutor to prosecute a fair trial.

Photos and video have become an important element to investigating and apprehending criminals. Coordinating with police only helps investigators do their jobs more effectively. Give some consideration on whether releasing photos on social media would help or hinder the apprehension of a suspect.

KING TV:

https://www.king5.com/article/news/nation-world/doorbell-cameras-creating-dilemmas-for-police-neighborhoods/507-587143579?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5b81b55804d301021355a7aa&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound:

http://www.crimestoppers.com/sitemenu.aspx?ID=486&

Wikipedia, Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

SOCIAL MEDIA- Another Tool for Awareness in Your Community

Social media has become a key component in helping homeowners be aware of crime in their neighborhoods. Ring has added a tool to help neighborhoods to be informed of crime or suspicious activity. Its recently launched Neighbors App allows Ring owners to post videos from their devices on the app and for neighbors who subscribe to the app to receive an alert of the activity.

Burglary and package theft remain a problem for neighborhoods nationwide. Having cameras has improved surveillance of private property. Being able to communicate images from those cameras to deputies and police enhances their ability to investigate crime. Letting neighbors know about crime and suspicious activity helps them be on guard and ensure that their property is secure. While consumers have been able to post photos and videos on social media platforms such as Facebook and Nextdoor, this app makes broadcasting this information to your neighbors much easier.

While Ring claims that information from the app is shared with local law enforcement and neighborhoods, Snohomish and King County law enforcement agencies are not currently tied in.

Knowledge of crime in our communities by residents is important to keeping communities safe. As important, if not more important, is notifying police of suspicious and criminal activity. Social media tools do not replace the need to call 911 when you see a crime or suspicious activity in progress. If you come home and find that a crime has occurred, calling the non-emergency number, 425-407-3999, is a good number for reporting crimes that have occurred in the past.

Ring:

https://ring.com/neighbors

https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004851266

SNOHOMISH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE- Crime Prevention Newsletter

Many local governments, including the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, have been experimenting with using social media to inform the public. Notices to neighborhoods from local governments as well as postings from neighbors in Facebook groups or Nextdoor all help citizens become aware of crime, traffic, or natural disasters. This issue of the Sheriff’s Office’s crime prevention newsletter discusses the benefits and problems of social media.

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

http://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4411

 

One problem is reporting a crime to your neighbors but not to 911. This recent article in The Herald discusses an incident where an attempted robbery was not promptly reported to 911 but did receive extensive coverage in Facebook. This led to a missed opportunity for a local police department to apprehend the suspect. Remember, if you see a crime in progress or suspicious activity call 911 first then let your neighbors know about it via email or social media.

 

The Herald:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20160210/NEWS01/160219955

 

 

SHERIFF’S OFFICE– Partnering with Nextdoor

The Sheriff’s Office has announced on its Facebook page that it is partnering with Nextdoor, a free, private social network that is designed to help members of neighborhoods to communicate on neighborhood issues. The intent of Nextdoor is to build stronger and safer neighborhoods using the power of technology. Neighborhoods set up private accounts that allow each member to communicate.

Now, the Sheriff’s Office can send crime prevention tips, meeting announcements and bulletins to Nextdoor users. The Sheriff’s Office can communicate with all users in Snohomish County or it can focus its messages to a specific community or communities. While the Sheriff’s Office is early in its use of Nextdoor, this gives the Sheriff’s Office a new capability to communicate with the public. For example, if it is looking for a suspect in a specific area it can send an alert to that area and to surrounding areas. Also, if it sees a trend of increased burglaries in an area, it can send an alert with some crime prevention reminders to that area.

The Sheriff’s Office cannot see posts within each member neighborhood. It can receive direct messages from the members of each neighborhood and can see replies or comments to its posts. This communications remains private for the Sheriff’s Office and for individuals within each neighborhood group.

Comment: This is a major improvement for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office in its capability to communicate with the public. Its announcement on Facebook pointed out that there are currently 147 Snohomish County neighborhoods on Nextdoor. That includes over 123,000 households out of an unincorporated population of over 306,000. Long time Neighborhood Watch Captains have understood the cumbersomeness of communicating with the Sheriff’s Office in many situations. This initiative should improve the Sheriff’s Office’s capability to make us aware of crimes, give us practical and timely information to protect ourselves, and give the Sheriff’s Office an improved capability to ensure our safety. Modern policing emphasizes working with citizens not only to put criminals away, but to take away the underlying causes of crime. This initiative is a new tool to put that vision into practice.  

Nextdoor:

https://nextdoor.com/

 

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.facebook.com/SnoCoSheriff?fref=nf

 

FACEBOOK– Some Things Not to Share

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article asking if you are “over sharing” on social media (January 13). There are some things on Facebook that might seem innocent, but can be used by burglars, ID thieves, etc.

 

Here are 5 things to keep out of your Facebook profile:

 

1. Your home address. We have already talked about oversharing your location when you are at the store, on vacation and other times that you are away from your home. Obviously, you are denying this information from potential burglars. But, others can use your home address against you including ID thieves or people who may want to harass you. So remove your address from your profile. Your close friends should already know where you live. And if you want someone to come you’re your house you can give them the address person to person or via email, mail, or directly via text message.
2. Anything work-related. Hackers who want to break into your company’s computer system will look for the names of employees as a way to get in. So, don’t make any reference to where you work in your profile. This link talks about some ways that hackers can get confidential information about your company: http://www.komando.com/small-business/287336/hackers-goldmine-your-linkedin-profile.
3. Your relationship status. Apparently there are certain relationship statuses that attract cyberstalkers. And if you change your relationship status, that can cause awkward comments or “likes” especially if you change a relationship from “married” to “single.”
4. Your payment information. Facebook has some incentives for you to store your credit card information with the site. While the account information is no doubt secure online with Facebook, there is a danger that you might have your profile open on your desktop, laptop, or tablet at work or in a public place. Someone can look at your screen and pick up your credit card number. And there is always a danger that Facebook could have a data breach. So try to store your credit card number in as few places as possible.
5. Your phone number. In Facebook, by default the people you friend can see your phone number even if you don’t want everyone to see it. Also, some of Facebook’s security features require the use of your phone number. You can change who sees your phone number to “Only Me.”

 

For details on how to remove or hide this information go to this link:

 

 

KING TV:

 

http://www.king5.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2015/01/23/facebook-details-sharing/22155437/

 

 

 

BURGLARY PREVENTION – Are You Over Sharing on Social Media?

Anyone who watched the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day saw the Allstate Insurance “mayhem” man break into a home who, according to a series of ads during the game, learned that the home was empty through postings by the owners on social media. The ads were part of Project Aware Share that Allstate Insurance started to encourage people to be more careful about what they post about their lives on social media.

According to Allstate, more and more burglaries are being connected to people sharing their locations on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. From letting people know that you are at dinner to that big trip to Europe, sharing, or over sharing, what you are doing and where you are at any time of the day, can give a potential burglar the opportunity to steal from you while you are away from your home or apartment. Allstate says that there is no hard data that says this is a trend, but it notes that security and safety experts from around the world are warning their clients to be careful of what they share on social media.

Part of the trick is not posting, tweeting or checking in with your location in real time. Posting those pictures of you on the beach in the Caribbean while you are there can give a burglar the opportunity to break into your home.

The other trick is to manage your security settings so that only a small group of friends, who you know well, receives information about your movements. For example, on Facebook, make sure that you are only sharing with your friends, not with the “public,” which means anyone can see what you have posted.

Other measures that you can take include controlling your Facebook tag settings, cleaning up your friend list, and creating a “close friends” list. For details, go to http://blog.allstate.com/5-social-media-strategies-to-deter-burglary-theft/?_ga=1.144785585.462915536.1421181563.

The Allstate web site has more tips for protecting your home from burglary and using social media safely at http://www.allstate.com/tools-and-resources/aware-share-tips.aspx?intcid=ILC-aware-share-150101:exclusive-content

Before social media, broadcasting our whereabouts was not a problem. We did not have a means to tell the whole world where we were or what we were doing. Now, however, we have that capability. Like leaving your cell phone in your car, where anyone can see it, over sharing can give a burglar the opportunity to steal from you. Many people have learned the hard way about the dangers of over sharing. Take some time to review the Allstate Project Aware Share web site and implement their recommendations.

 

Allstate Insurance:

http://www.allstate.com/tools-and-resources/aware-share.aspx

brandchannel:

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2015/01/02/150102-Allstate-Mayhem-Sale.aspx

 

 

 

SHERIFF’S OFFICE- Using Social Media to Catch Crooks

In a recent press release, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has pointed out three incidents where social media, YouTube specifically, has helped it to apprehend suspects in three crimes.
                                                                                                 

1. A November 5 case where suspects were seen on camera using stolen credit cards at the Seattle Premium Mall. After publishing the video on YouTube, the Sheriff’s Office received several tips that led to the apprehension of a 32 year-old Granite Falls man. The Sheriff’s Office is currently looking for 26 year-old Melissa Linder, who is believed to be the female in the video, for forgery, identity theft, and possession of stolen property (http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2013/11/granite-falls-burglars-show-their-stuff.html).
2. A November 6 incident when two brothers were caught on video stealing various items including guns and ammunition from a home. Within a day of the release of video on YouTube, the Sheriff’s Office received 25 tips that helped it to apprehend the older brother. This case has been referred to the Snohomish County Prosecutors Office with a recommendation of charges of first degree burglary (http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2013/11/snohomish-burglars-steal-from-snohomish.html).
3. The third incident occurred on November 9 when two men assaulted a cab driver and attempted to force him to withdraw cash from an ATM. Tips from the public helped to capture a 27 year-old black male. The Sheriff’s Office is still looking for white male suspect who was seen in the video. This suspect is known to hang out in the area of 164^th St near Lynnwood and is believed to live or have friends in the area (http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2013/12/lynnwood-sheriffs-office-looking-for.html)

Note: In these early years of social media, the Sheriff’s Office needs to explore ways to effectively use social media in order to enforce the law and prevent crime. The three examples above shows the efforts that the Sheriff’s Office is making to experiment with new technology. In each of the examples, the Sheriff’s Office was able to post the videos in a place where the public could easily see them (the Sheriff’s Office’s YouTube account is http://www.youtube.com/user/SnoCoSheriff) . It also used Twitter (@SnoCoSheriff) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Snohomish-County-Sheriffs-Office/179360692138012) as well as traditional media (TV, radio and newspapers) to advertise the video clips.

In addition, in each of the incidents, video was an important element in identifying the suspects and documenting their actions. It also demonstrates that tips from the public are important to enforcing the law and that the Sheriff’s Office takes the tips it receives very seriously.

Social media is an important tool for the Sheriff’s Office to communicate with the public. It leverages the Sheriff’s Office’s ability to communicate as well as giving it the capability to communicate rapidly. Social media provides several methods to contact the public which may become a challenge to manage by the Sheriff’s Office. But in using all available methods, the Sheriff’s Office can ensure the greatest coverage of important information.

We cannot know how the Sheriff’s Office will develop social media in the future as a tool to protect our society from crime. It is important that the Sheriff’s Office continue to use and to grow this new tool to the benefit of all of us.   

 

BURGLARIES- And Social Media

Over the past few months there have been warnings about telling people that you are going on vacation over social media such as Facebook and Twitter. A group calling itself Pleaserobme.com (http://pleaserobme.com/) posted Tweets of people advertising their trips. Their point was that anyone could take that information and burglarize the house of someone on vacation.


Stories in the national media have popped up talking about the potential problem. In early August CNN ran an article about a burglary in Indiana attributed to a Facebook posting (http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/05/facebook-friend-or-foe/?iref=allsearch). In early September, a burglary ring in New Hampshire received publicity when police revealed that some of their victims had posted their vacation plans on Facebook (http://mashable.com/2010/09/11/facebook-places-burglars/).

In the Indiana and New Hampshire incidents the burglars had access to the victim’s Facebook accounts as friends. So, they either knew the victim or the victim allowed the burglar to become a “friend.”

With all of the talk about this “problem” there really have not been many reports of burglars using social media for leads to find empty houses. According to at least one of the sergeants at the Sheriff’s Office, they have not seen a rash of burglaries that they can attribute to social media. So what’s the problem?

First, social media is so new we don’t know quite how to use it. Those of us who might be older probably look on social media with suspicion. We just won’t use anything that we don’t understand. Youth, though, take to this new stuff like honey. Think all of the talk about “sexting.” If this social media phenomenon is truly useful, there must be a happy medium where the old become more daring and find uses and the youth becomes more careful and figures out how to protect itself from harm.

Second, many of the features of social media are designed to share information to anyone who will listen. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, thinks that the more sharing of information the better. Not everyone shares that vision, hence the effort to “strengthen” Facebook’s privacy settings.

Third, criminals use new technology. They use cell phones, texting, and emails to coordinate their crimes. ID theft bloomed with the increased use of credit and debit cards. Online purchasing gave another potential source for ID theft. Devices that thieves can use to easily swipe cards to collect account numbers (in a restaurant, store or at an ATM) have made us more vulnerable. Email phishing schemes attempt to trick us into giving our account information. So it stands to reason that criminals will migrate to using social media.

But have criminals found an effective way to use social media to commit burglary? So far, the most practical method seems to be when the burglar is a “friend” of someone on Facebook or Twitter; and that someone mentions that they are going to be away from home on vacation, going to be gone over a weekend, or going to a bar or lounge. That could provide an opportunity. The burglar probably already knows where the victim lives. If not he could easily do a Google search or look in the victim’s profile.

Most burglary prevention advice consists of keeping doors locked, keeping a house in easy view of the street, and making the house look occupied (pick up newspapers and handouts, keep some lights on). The advice comes from the experience that burglars will check out a (or their) neighborhood for houses that give them the opportunity to enter, take something(s) worthwhile and get out without getting caught or hurt. This means physically going through neighborhoods.

So what to do?

First, don’t discount social media as a method of communicating with your friends or acquaintances. Know its’ capabilities and its dangers.

Second, as in any other aspect of life, be careful of what you say and to whom. Before social media, you probably would not announce to the whole world that you are going on vacation. You might tell only those close relatives or friends. So, on social media sites, take advantage of privacy settings to limit your message to your friends or followers. And be careful of who you allow to be a friend or follower. If you leave your privacy settings open to the whole world then don’t talk about your private life.

Third, when you are away, follow the common sense crime prevention advice that police departments have been giving for decades. When you are away from your house, lock your doors; make your home look occupied (lights on, maybe a radio turned on) and (especially when you are on vacation) have a trusted friend or neighbor pick up your mail and your newspapers and handbills.

Old advice may be just as applicable with new technology and new ways of doing things.

Have you been victimized by a burglar who used social media find you? Was he a friend or follower or did he use a different technique to find you?