Source: Marysville Globe
MARYSVILLE — In a modern spin on the old “wanted” posters of the Old West, local police departments are using a new tool to help identify suspects. www.CanYouID.me is a website that enables police to identify unnamed suspects.
In cowboy talk, Marysville Police have already roped their first suspect, thanks to a couple of alert web surfers.
The website hosts photographs taken via video surveillance cameras in stores and other locations. With purported crimes ranging from credit card theft to robbery, subjects are shown on the website’s main page in hopes that someone can help put a name to the face. That’s where the public comes in.
“The CanYouID.me web site now provides a practical tool for Law Enforcement to partner up the public to help hold criminals accountable for the crimes that impact our community,” Marysville Police Officer Dan Vinson said.
CanYouID.me allows anyone who recognizes a suspect in a photograph to contact the investigating agency through email, with just a simple click. Anonymous tips are also welcome. Since its development by a Lake Forest Park Detective in July 2010, the website has helped identify 20 subjects identified with 43 participating agencies and 148 detective signup with the site.
In the Marysville case, police responded to a report of a shoplifter leaving the Marysville K-mart store with $11,338 in jewelry stolen from a locked display case. Unable to identify the suspect, detectives turned to CanYouID.me for help. Two citizens identified the suspect through the photographs, and the man has since been charged, says Detective Craig Bartl, who inherited the case from Vinson, who was on detective duty at the time.