Hermiston Police look to Facebook to solve crimes
»Play Video
HERMISTON - Despite your privacy settings anything you post on Facebook is public. Police in Hermiston are using Facebook as a new tool to catch criminals. It's already helped them catch multiple bad guys, including those accused of robbing the Old Western Federal Credit Union.
Detective Bill Osborne spends time at work checking his Facebook account.
The catch is it's not his real account. He has three fake Facebook accounts he uses to catch criminals.
"Sometimes people take pictures of themselves doing these things and you're able to compare to graffiti with the pictures online and you just put two and two together,” said Osborne.
His use of social media already helped nab graffiti artists, thieves and even helped track down the teenage suspects accused of robbing the Old West Federal Credit Union.
Osborne added, "If they're willing to provide us with info, I'm willing to take that and help solve the case.”
It's certainly a unique approach to solving crime. Locals KEPR spoke with think it's valuable and not an invasion of privacy.
“I work in the school district and I know a lot of kids use Facebook to talk about different things and that'd be a way to find out what they're up to and even adults,” said local parent Sally Trujillo.
Students admit they're not always the brightest in terms of what they post on the popular site.
“People always put like what they did on Facebook and people are proud of it. If you post it, you should get caught,” said high school student Aaron Simmons.
No one we talked to said they'd change their privacy settings, mostly because they have nothing to hide. Those who do have something to hide might want to drop that Facebook account.
“As technology becomes more prevalent you can either adapt, learn how to do things a new way or you fall behind,” added Osborne.
Hermiston police tell us they've been using Facebook as a tool for the past couple years and picked up the strategy by working with Kennewick police.
Detective Bill Osborne spends time at work checking his Facebook account.
The catch is it's not his real account. He has three fake Facebook accounts he uses to catch criminals.
"Sometimes people take pictures of themselves doing these things and you're able to compare to graffiti with the pictures online and you just put two and two together,” said Osborne.
His use of social media already helped nab graffiti artists, thieves and even helped track down the teenage suspects accused of robbing the Old West Federal Credit Union.
Osborne added, "If they're willing to provide us with info, I'm willing to take that and help solve the case.”
It's certainly a unique approach to solving crime. Locals KEPR spoke with think it's valuable and not an invasion of privacy.
“I work in the school district and I know a lot of kids use Facebook to talk about different things and that'd be a way to find out what they're up to and even adults,” said local parent Sally Trujillo.
Students admit they're not always the brightest in terms of what they post on the popular site.
“People always put like what they did on Facebook and people are proud of it. If you post it, you should get caught,” said high school student Aaron Simmons.
No one we talked to said they'd change their privacy settings, mostly because they have nothing to hide. Those who do have something to hide might want to drop that Facebook account.
“As technology becomes more prevalent you can either adapt, learn how to do things a new way or you fall behind,” added Osborne.
Hermiston police tell us they've been using Facebook as a tool for the past couple years and picked up the strategy by working with Kennewick police.
