Here is a recent article from NewsWeek that shows just how important Web 2.0 blogs and social networks are becoming to law enforcement and legal professionals when conducting investigations. Law enforcement officials are increasingly turning to social network sites like MySpace and FaceBook to help solve crimes and bring wrongdoers to justice.

From the article —

Meet the point-and-click police. A growing number of ordinary officers are working a new beat, turning to MySpace—an online network of individuals linked through personalized home pages—to collect clues and crack offline cases.

Communication between cops and the two-year-old company has surged this year, with MySpace now contributing to about 150 investigations a month, according to Jason Feffer, its vice president for operations. That’s due in large part to the site’s size and substance. A searchable, public scrapbook of images, affiliations and written exchanges, it offers detectives raw data on 70 million potential suspects, witnesses or victims (Facebook.com has also served as a source of info, though it is limited to users on college campuses).

You can read the entire article @ Walking a New Beat.

The LA Times is reporting that the Los Angeles Police Department has released an online crime tracking map that allows citizens to monitor and track crime patterns in LA.

From the article by Richard Winton –

The LAPD’s interactive crime mapping, which went up on the department’s website late Wednesday, allows users to pinpoint by date and location specific crimes, including robbery, assault, rape and homicide, up to five miles from their own addresses — or anybody else’s.

Users can access the crime maps and stats from the LAPD website @ LAPD Online.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Cingular and Radio Shack are working together on a wireless AMBER Alert System for users of cell phones and wireless network devices. The AMBER Alerts will be a free, opt-in service that will notify cell phone users in a given geographic area to newly-filed missing children notices in their region via SMS text messages.

You can read the article by Akweli Parker @ Cingular, RadioShack to team up on missing-children alerts.

PittsburghLive.com is reporting on a Pennsylvania couple that have been charged with numerous criminal counts, after attempting to stop the repossession of their SUV, including criminal conspiracy and making terroristic threats.

From the article —

Serena reportedly ran to the other side of the truck when Sonya Schlegel pointed a rifle at him, cursed at him and again demanded he release the truck from the tow.

Charles Schlegel began rocking the truck back and forth in an attempt to release it from the tow. He eventually succeeded, then drove the SUV away from the scene, police said.

After her husband drove off, Sonya Schlegel retreated inside the residence, where police said they found her after responding to a call about the disturbance.

Sonya Schlegel was charged with two counts of criminal conspiracy and one count each of terroristic threats, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

Charles Schlegel was charged with two counts of criminal conspiracy and one count each of receiving stolen property and unauthorized use of an automobile.

The Schlegels face a preliminary hearing before District Judge Douglas R. Weimer Jr. Jan. 25.

You can read the entire article @ Couple charged after trying to stop truck repo

The Smoking Gun has released their top 15 mug shots for 2005. These characters and their mug shots are entertaining, to say the least.

You can view The Smoking Gun mug shots at The Smoking Gun 2005 Mug Shots Of The Year

A bounty hunter in Manchester, NH wears a Santa Claus disguise to catch bail skips, according to an article in the Union Leader newspaper.

From the article —

Bounty hunter Lance Allen Wilkinson of Amherst, a recognized bail enforcement agent, donned a red and white hat and frosty beard while making an arrest on Hall Street Saturday afternoon.

“He was standing outside when we got there. I said, ‘Ho, ho, ho. Off to jail you go,’ ” Wilkinson said.

You can read the entire article @ Bounty hunter dons Santa Claus disguise

Sci-Tech Today is reporting that a 20 year old German man has turned himself over to authorities, after mistakenly believing a phony email generated by the Sober email worm that stated he was being investigated.

From the article –

The 20-year-old alleged pedophile was trapped by Sober-Z, a variant of Sober, a prolific Internet worm that has invaded PCs over the past few months, sending out messages from multiple fabricated e-mail addresses.

The e-mail received by the alleged pedophile said that “an investigation is underway.” The e-mail listed the sender as Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, the Bundes Kriminal Amt (BKA).

Paderborn police charged the man after finding pornographic images of children on his home computer, Reuters said. The man has not been named.

You can read the entire article @ Pornographer Trapped by Sober Worm.

Here is another sign of the digital, wired, networked times: ThePittsburghChannel.com is reporting the story of a teenager who was convicted of manslaughter after an online confession was discovered by prosecutors on the teen’s blog.

From the article –

An 18-year-old passenger who caused a fatal crash by pulling on the steering wheel pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter after prosecutors discovered a confession on his online blog.

Blake Ranking wrote “I did it” on his blurty.com journal three days after the October 2004 crash that caused a friend’s death and left another seriously injured. He had previously told investigators he remembered nothing of the crash and little of its aftermath.

You can read the entire article @
Teen Guilty Of Manslaughter After Online Confession

The Associated Press is reporting that Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman has signed on for a third season of his popular show ‘Dog, the Bounty Hunter’ with A&E for a cool $2.6M.

The article also reports that the ‘Dog, the Bounty Hunter’ series is A&E’s highest-rated television series ever.

Here is a freely browsable database of crimes reported in the city of Chicago and plotted by location on a customized Google Map.

You can search the Chicago crime database by crime type; street; date; police beat; zip code; ward; location; city map or route.

You can search the Chicago crime database at Chicago Crime