Canvassing a Crime Scene Using Text Messenging

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

If you’ve watched television shows like “Law and Order” you’ve seen detectives ask officers if the area had been “canvassed” … meaning, had someone gone and done a door-to-door search of the area … for witnesses and information, not necessarily for culprits. As technology advances, there are twists on this traditional method that, with care taken for privacy, can help police in situation where normal methods will not work.

PARIS - When soccer fans rioted in Rotterdam last April - this time targeting the police, not just rival fans - they might have expected a fierce chase. There was no way to foresee, however, the unique wireless wrinkle used in the pursuit by prosecutors determined to round up as many of the offenders as possible.

After the initial phase of the investigation left many of more than 200 suspects on the loose, the Dutch authorities turned to a kind of cellular door-to-door search - mass text messaging in search of criminal information. Source: International Herald Tribune

We Say: This was a clever application of technology in a situation where, since it was a soccer riot, there were no doors to knock on. According to the article, privacy of those messaged was ensured by receiving only the numbers and not the names of those whose cell phones were in the area of the riot. And, the occasions for its use would probably be limited to special situations. Still, it’s likely that privacy advocates would take a close look at this technique if more instances of its use occurred.