December 21st, 2006
Cops post vid on YouTube; suspect turns himself in
Is there anything YouTube isn't good for? If so, take crime identification off the list. Canadian police recently posted a surveillance video on YouTube, looking for help in identifying the shooter in a nightclub shooting, Reuters reports.
Police in the Southern Ontario city of Hamilton said on Thursday that they uploaded a one-minute, 12-second clip from a surveillance tape onto the video-sharing YouTube site. The video, which showed suspects arriving at a local nightclub for a Sean Price hip-hop concert, garnered media attention and was viewed more than 30,000 times.
"This is the first time Hamilton police have utilized video web posting in an investigation, and to the best of its knowledge, the first time that law enforcement has ever used it as a direct investigative tool," Staff Sgt. Jorge Lasso told a news conference.
After the video was posted, one George Gallow, 24, seen in the clip wearing a baseball cap with the word "JOKER" on the front, turned himself into police and has been charged with second degree murder and attempted murder.
"(There is) little doubt that the extra media generated by the use of YouTube contributed to the fact that this man turned himself in," Lasso said. Police said they turned to YouTube due to its popularity with young people. Most of the concert-goers were in their late teens or early 20s.
