Different camera angles from the Boston Marathon explosion.CBS News(CBS News) -- As law enforcement ...

1. Boston Marathon Bombing "Crowdsourcing:" How citizens
are using the Internet to help solve crimes
Different camera angles from the Boston Marathon explosion.
CBS News
(CBS News) -- As law enforcement agencies investigate Monday's bombings at the Boston Marathon
-- and ask the public for photos, videos and information that might help find the perpetrators -- some
corners of the Internet have launched their own "investigations."
CBS News: Crowdsourcing or witch hunt? Reddit and 4chan users attempt to solve Boston bombing
case
For years crime tip lines and even television shows have utilized the help of large groups of people, a
technique known these days as "crowdsourcing," to aid in police investigations. Shortly after the
first episode of "America's Most Wanted" aired in 1988, tips poured in about convicted killer David
James Roberts, an FBI Ten Most Wanted fugitive, leading to his capture after 20 years on the run.
But crowdsourcing in the Internet age has taken the public's involvement in solving crimes to a new
level.
In April of 2012, police in Waynesboro, Va., were investigating a fatal hit-and-run when the
investigation ran out of steam.
"We were at a road block," Capt. Kelly Walker told Crimesider. "There wasn't any way to move
forward until we identified the car."
Looking for help from the public, the department issued a press release with a photograph and
description of a piece of metal left at the scene of the crime. Soon, the popular automotive blog
Jalopnik picked up the story, and commenters were able to identify the evidence as part of an early
2000s Ford F-150 pick-up.
Walker says the site contacted the department and the identification helped lead to suspects who
were later convicted.
"It was really a big help," says Walker. So big, that last December, the department presented the site
with a community service award.

2. Successes like this have led more and more law enforcement agencies to use social media as an
investigation tool.
An annual survey conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that in 2011,
40 percent of agencies were using social media to solicit tips from the public. Just one year later,
that percentage jumped to 56.8 percent.
"Response is quicker; and the scope is much larger - than the traditional tip line," says Nancy Kolb, a
Senior Program Manager who works with the organization's center for social media. Kolb and the
center work with law enforcement to enhance their capacity to use social media to prevent and solve
crimes.
Kolb says the most common examples of law enforcement reaching out involve posting photos or
videos asking for the public's assistance in identifying a suspect or a witness who may be able to
provide more information.
"It's about reaching the right audience, getting the right people," says social media expert Kenneth
Wisnefski, founder and CEO of the Internet marketing website "WebiMax."
Wisnefski says people appear to respond well to requests for specific information, and the Internet's
ubiquity factors into the public embracing it as a tool for reporting crime.
"Social media is at the forefront of events," Wisnefski says, noting how much information regarding
the recent bombings was picked up and communicated first through sites like Twitter and Facebook.
"We haven't really had opportunity like this before for crowdsourcing on this scale."
Forensic video analyst Grant Fredericks says that when investigators sought information about
rioters in Vancouver in 2011, they received 5,000 hours of video from the public, which helped them
find suspects.
"We're in an electronic age, a surveillance society," says Fredericks, who teaches video analysis at
the University of Indianapolis and the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va. "Everyone walking
around with a cell phone has an opportunity to collect evidence."
Fredericks says the amount of video evidence available to law enforcement through crowdsourcing
is an incredibly valuable tool, but that investigators often run into trouble because they've "asked
the public to decide what's relevant."
He also warned, "We don't want vigilantes deciding who's guilty or not."
The danger of this point was illustrated this week as users on the social news website Reddit created
forums dedicated to combing through pictures of the crowds near the marathon's finish line and
discussing evidence in search of answers. On the forum thread "findbostonbombers," users
speculate about various theories and "suspects."
"Green Hat Man in center of photo. He's wearing what seems to be a heavily-stuffed backpack.
Anyone spot him in any other photos?" asked one Reddit user.
"That guy is walking away from the location of both bombs, they're down the street behind him,
about 11 mins before the explosions." Another commenter responds. "So that would mean the
backpack he's carrying is highly unlikely to be that in which either of the bombs was secreted."

3. Much of the theorizing was accompanied by images altered or written on, pointing out "suspicious"
details or possible suspects.
"It brings a lot of benefits, but also a lot of challenges." Kolb says about the influx of information
online. "Rumors spread quickly, and inaccurate information."
Kolb says there have been situations where people are wrongly identified by the public and
subjected to scrutiny and harassment despite never having been considered suspects by law
enforcement.
One name that has come up frequently in the past few days is that of Richard Jewell, a security
guard accused in the bombing at the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games in 1996. Jewell was eventually
cleared of wrongdoing, but not before suffering years of being hounded in the court of public opinion
despite never having been charged in the attack.
"Law enforcement officials are trained investigators" Kolb says, reminding would-be sleuths that the
best reliable information often comes from official statements.
Complete coverage of Boston Marathon bombings on Crimesider
18 Photos
Boston Marathon bombing victims
On April 15, 2013, two explosives went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston,
Mass. killing three and wounding more than 170 ...
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