Fighting Crime From Above?

The City of Indio located in California is hoping to start a new trend:  posting footage captured by surveillance cameras online.

While not the greatest quality, this video was captured by a private CCTV camera shows a man splashing an accelarant and throwing a Molotov cocktail on Neil's lounge.

According to The Desert Sun:

Officials hope the video will spark somebody's memory and help catch the person involved in the April 5 fire.

“This person knew what he was doing,” said Division Chief Ray Paiz with Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department. “We've got to get this guy off the street.”

The video, posted Monday, shows a man with a dark hooded sweatshirt spraying the west side of the building with an accelerant.
He then throws what appears to be a Molotov cocktail — a glass bottle filled with a combustible liquid and a lighted wick — at the building, causing it to ignite into flames.

This is a great trend for cities and police departments to continue with.  While it's uncertain who started this movement, many police departments have turned to youtube including the Salt Lake City Police Department.

Google and Youtube can be an incredible tool for investigation and apprehension efforts. However, it will take the efforts of all the collective police departments to get on board so citizens can help in the identification efforts.

Police departments should also modify their crime reporting standards so citizens and other cities can fully understand just how effective the collective efforts of both the private and public sector surveillance initiatives are. These reporting standards also include measuring the effectiveness of media campaigns such as posting video clips on youtube.