SLEUTHERS: how to educate the public on being ALERT and finding more missing people

[AlwaysShocked]

I think that phrase "See something, say something" that is used regarding suspicious packages, etc. could also well apply to this type of situation.

In this case, it is difficult to believe that every neighbor who said they called the police was lying. Yet the police "have no records" of these calls. Strange.

Yet, I have personally seen cases of a neighbor calling police about loud music blaring in a townhouse and the police pull up, knock on the front door, get no answer and get back into their cruiser and drive away. I've seen the same police action when the complaint was a loud fight.

(I have a scanner, live in a townhouse community, and when it is on my street.....well, I guess I'm nosy. Thankfully, both the loud music folks and the fighters moved away long ago.)

 

[shadowraiths]

Considering that smart phones seem to be the rage these days...

If you see something that you think is suspicious, snap a picture, and, at the very least, message yourself with a notation, time & location. If your smart phone has video capability, you could even shoot a video and narrate what you're seeing.

That way, if you decide what you saw was report worthy, you're not left trying to remember pertinent details. And even if you don't report it, if you later hear of an incident, and you think the pic/vid you took is relevant, you have info that could be crucial to an investigation.

There is also an iphone app by VorpalFox called iSpotACrime. Don't know how good it is but it's something I stumbled across while doing some iphone dev research.