Police using Facebook to catch criminals

UNDATED -- Social networking helps many keep in touch with friends and family. But now, those social networking sites are turning out to be a good way for police to catch criminals.

Police are stepping up patrols online, spotting real-life crooks who often slip-up in a virtual world.

One criminal in Pennsylvania was caught when he actually logged on to his Facebook account during a robbery.

Police arrested one of Los Angeles’ most prolific graffiti artists after he posted video of his handiwork on YouTube.

“People put a lot of things on their facebook and their MySpace and other things that they normally wouldn’t tell you,” said Policewoman Sandra Boonenberg.

Police in an Ohio city have recruited a long list of Facebook friends who are helping them catch criminals.

“If you can get on the Internet you can get on our page and view all the people wanted,” said an Ohio police officer.

“We have to go where the community goes and the community is online in the millions, in the hundreds of millions,” said a police chief.

Statistics show that nearly 900 police departments and sheriff’s offices across the country have Facebook pages.

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