Investigators use social media to track down suspects
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MILAN, Tenn. — In less than 24 hours, WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News viewers help solve two cases in Milan. Tuesday night, Milan officers released surveillance pictures from their Walmart, and Wednesday morning both people were identified. But it is not just your TV screen that officers are using to close cases. Your smartphone, computer and tablet are the new frontier in crime fighting. Every day when Lt. Chris Vandiver arrives at the department, he logs onto Facebook. “Right now we’ve got 2,300 likes and 44 new ones this week,” Vandiver said. But he is not checking in on his friends — he is posting photos of suspects to see if the public can help him out. “I may not know them, but someone who sees this person every other day, they’re going to know them,” Vandiver said. “Then they can possibly help us identify that person so that we can further our investigation.” Whenever Milan investigators receive photos or videos of a suspect, they can even post it on the go and within seconds it shows up on their new social media feed at the station where other investigators can monitor it the rest of the day. Since creating the page, Vandiver says the department has solved about 90 percent of the cases they have featured on Facebook, including the two Walmart thefts from Monday. “I put two of those on Facebook, and both were worked out within hours,” Vandiver said. “One of them was booked in earlier today.” It is a free and fast tool that residents say they are excited to be a part of. “I feel more comfortable in your own home,” resident Linda Barber said. “Especially if you know that this type of tool is helping to protect your community.” And without it, investigators say they would have a longer timeline to get these suspects off the street. “If we couldn’t put it out there in social media, we would just kind of keep our fingers crossed,” Vandiver said. “In the old days, they would just kind of work through word of mouth.” To keep up to date with the suspects the Milan Police Department is posting about, you can “like” their page by going to the following link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Milan-Police-Department/135837793128808?fref=ts
