Brilliant But Scary
Cops Turn to YouTube to Catch Criminals. Brilliant use of police resources - the Internet is the new public spectrum, and this was even cheaper, with a potentially much wider audience, than something like public access cable. Certainly much more effective than Denver's punitive "Johns TV", where they display mugshots of people convicted of solicitation. I'm not sure what the reasoning is here, possibly the possibiliy for embarassment, but since hardly anybody watches public access, that's a pretty slim possibility.
From the Fox aricle, the main problem is getting people to watch, or even find the videos. A quick search on YouTube for "crime" and "surveillance" came up with nothing. It seems like the police need to come up with a catchy term so fans of the genre could easily find the videos. It seems to me that there's a burgeoning opportunity for someone to consult with various police organizations. SEO for law enforcement. I'm only being half-facetious here. Getting government organizations to use technology effectively is always a lucrative market, in this case, it's also one with a remarkably low barrier to entry.
I'm off to read 1984 again.