Bee Investigator: Using the reach of social media to solve crimes

Every week, The Modesto Bee prints and posts on its website a picture of a suspect from Stanislaus County Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted list. Why? Because getting his picture out to the masses increases the chances that he is located and arrested.

Local law enforcement agencies will also send us pictures to post of suspects caught on surveillance cameras, asking for the public’s help identifying them.

And since many have become social media savvy over the past few years, they are using their own Facebook and Twitter accounts to identify suspects and help them solve crimes.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department posted video of a home burglary suspect in February. The Ceres Police Department went to Facebook for help identifying tool thieves in August. And in September, Modesto police posted video from Bob’s Marine on Oakdale Road, in which a burglar is seen stealing a motor.

The more posts, the more likely the crook will be caught quickly, right?

Wouldn’t it be incumbent upon the victim to help police by utilizing their own social media accounts and rallying their friends to help spread the information?

The post about Bob’s Marine was shared 33 times from Modesto police’s Facebook page, which pales in comparison to the 1,176 shares from Bob’s Marine page.

But law enforcement doesn’t always want the assistance, saying in some circumstances it can hinder an investigation.

Modesto police spokeswoman Heather Graves said the video could spook a suspect detectives are closing in on, sending him on the run. She said plastering a suspect’s photo all over Facebook can also prejudice witnesses by affecting their recall if they already saw the suspect on social media.

Some local business people say the process of reporting a crime can be frustrating. It can take hours before an officer shows up to take a report, and if the crime requires a detective to investigate, it might be days before one is assigned.

Clothing boutique owner Darlene Dover said that if she waited that long, all her stolen merchandise would be long gone.

For six years, Dover has owned and operated Envy Fine Clothing, with locations in Modesto, Turlock, Atwater and Fresno. The store sells high-end clothing, including jeans that cost upward of $250 for brand names such as Miss Me, Hudson and True Religion, which is primarily what thieves are targeting.

During her first few years of business, she was ripped off several times. Even with good surveillance cameras that provide clear footage, no one was ever caught and she lost money.

She decided to take matters into her own hands, seeking help from friends and valued customers on Facebook and Instagram.

“Without being able to identify people, (detectives) can’t solve the crime and they get so many cases on their desk,” Dover said. “On social media, everybody knows everybody.”

Pretty much. Even in Modesto, with more than 200,000 people, it can be difficult to stay anonymous.

Within hours of Dover posting a video of three men running out the front door of the Envy in Atwater, a pile of jeans in the arms of each, people who knew them started tagging them on Facebook.

Soon, one of the perp’s mom contacted Dover and arranged for them to meet her in the parking lot of a shopping center to return the merchandise. Dover said they returned seven out of 10 pairs of jeans, or about $1,600 worth.

Through social media, she identified a woman who stole a $152 pair of shorts from the Turlock store. She sent the woman a letter stating that she would turn her in to police if she didn’t pay for the shorts.

The woman came into the store with a cashier’s check, and Dover kept her promise.

Everyone else she’s turned over to police, which is what Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Bejaran said is most important.

“Anything a victim can do to assist us in the investigation is helpful, but we do need them to let us know if they are using their social media to post any video surveillance and to provide that same footage to us because at some point it’s going to be used as evidence in the event someone is caught,” he said.

Dover, whose husband is a sergeant for the Merced County Sheriff’s Department, said she’s happy to do all the legwork and hand over the evidence when it’s time for police to intervene.

Since she started using social media, Dover said, she has solved five of the six thefts and burglaries she’s been victim to. For the first time, she said, she’s started receiving restitution money.

Along with the videos, she posts her contact numbers, instead of a detective’s or Crime Stoppers’, so people can call her directly with tips.

“If I can get the people into custody or get my merchandise back, I sometimes will give a reward, but even if I say I won’t, people give up the information because they don’t like (the suspect),” she said.

That was the case when she was tipped off to a woman associated with a nighttime burglar who stole 76 pairs of jeans from the Modesto store.

Dover found on the woman’s Facebook page that she was advertising a “Blue light Miss Me special ... Tons for Cheap.” That same night, she and the burglar were hosting an illegal gambling party.

Dover and her husband went to the home and wrote down license plate numbers, then called Modesto police. The man and woman were arrested, and 13 pairs of jeans were recovered, Dover said.

Graves reiterated that detectives appreciate the help but don’t want the victim taking the lead and contacting suspects. She said a detective can choose to close a case if the victim doesn’t cooperate.

“If (detectives) have exhausted all leads, then they want the video out there, but they don’t want the video jeopardizing their investigation,” Graves said. “We want it to be a clean investigation and put bad guys behind bars legitimately.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2015 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Bee Investigator: Using the reach of social media to solve crimes."