London Police Make Use Of Flickr To Find Riot Suspects

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The use of social networks is becoming more and more commonplace among law enforcement to connect with citizens and to help solve cases. Facebook and Twitter are among those tools and allow for interaction and the viewing of videos and pictures. London police are now using social photo sharing site Flickr to help find riot suspects in the London riots.

The police are scouring security camera video footage to find shots clear enough to identify individuals participating in illegal activity. They are then posting the photographs to a Flickr photostream for citizens to look through. Their hopes are that someone can recognize a person of interest so the police can have a talk with them.

It is Operation Withern that is taking this to task. In their own words:

Today we are releasing the first of many, many images of people we will be speaking to in connection with the scenes of violence. We will not tolerate the violence that has been seen in parts of London.

The photostream is called “London Disorder.” Nearly 700 suspects have now been arrested in connection with the riots partly because of Operation Withern.