Yes, I agree that this could be an excellent opportunity to pass needed info to the criminal authorities.

But we must have some assurance that it is really the POLICE that we're communicating with:

1: If it is NOT the police, then the information will not have reached the intended recipients, and our having tried to be good citizens will have been all for nothing.

2: What if some malicious person impersonates the police in an attempt to get information?

3: I have never heard of any real criminal authority not giving out VERIFIABLE contact numbers to the public.

It just doesn't ring true . . .

ill answer your two questions:
1- im not posting that on a public forum
2- no, why would i inform a supervisor of an innovative way to gather information.

just like you said, someone may 'copycat'.

i made an attempt to PM you, but youve disabled that feature. i also visited your web-page and judging from the information you have there, im quite surprised that you wouldnt be a proponent of this medium.

but hey- if you chose not to utilize it, thats fine. im sure there are plenty of people who will.

im pretty sure that GOV knows that im not an imposter.

Yes, agreed.

But I also do think MyNorthwood.net made some good points in his last post -- in that people who do consider taking up such an offer to "snitch" this way should certainly first just satisfy themselves that (1) they aren't wasting their time with some prankster and (2) that they take whatever precautions with the information they provide, if they really do want to remain anonymous.

Other than that, particularly if this experiment proves successful, I really do hope to see some "copy cats" of this idea make the rounds to some of the other neighborhood forums, including my own! (Do you hear me Captain Bethel / Officer Gibson?...)

I have not been on this board long enough to understand the issues with the imposters, but I have now verified he is who he says he is.

If one wants to verify who I am simply have a mod drop me a PM and I'll provide verification for myself.

So now you have this detective and myself that are willing to help out in any way possible, so while it is good to be skeptical let's not try to run the man off for simply trying to make the NE better and safer.

If I had info on something illegal going on in my area, I would probably take Law & Order up on his offer.
There are ways to protect yourself if you feel you might be passing info over the internet to a prankster. However, I don't feel this is the case with him/her.
It's true that if you use the PPDonline website, there's a fat chance your info or complaint will ever be addressed. Especially by someone who is familiar with the Northeast neighborhoods, as Law & Order probably is.
If, by collecting info from Phillyblog members helps L&O to catch criminals or address illegal activity and further his/her career, that's a plus. At least someone is thinking outside-the-box and reaching out to those of us who are interested and care about our neighborhoods. Sounds like a win-win to me.

__________________
United we stand. Divided we fall.

Numnutz, there are already several other Detectives posting on the board, using names such as "the Fuzz", among others. If you ever left the safe confines of the NE forum and expanded your horizons, you would know this. The fact that The Fuzz uses this board in a more informal way than through the formal channels of the PPD, has resulted in an increased police-community communication and more discussion, off the record, to work on and effect arrests that happen in West Philly. If that can happen in the NE, all the better.

I knew in his first post, by his or her style of writing, that this was a detective. Now, you can all get your heads out of your asses.

__________________
Seth Williams for District Attorney

Raider.Adam for Mayor, 2011

Actually I have no opposition whatsoever to the police using the web to harvest information, but you must admit that your method of going about it leaves cause for concern.

Had you posted under a verifiable name there would have been no problem.

What is to prevent copycats from impersonating the police? How could the public ever know whether they were communicating with the police or with imposters?

Your approach may help in some areas, yet it can cause other difficulties.

I don't have crystal balls, as you must.

Mine are brass.

I never said you were or weren't who you claim, and I'm also aware of the person/blogger you mentioned in the PM. I've used the online complaint option(never anonymously) before and depending on the issue have seen attention drawn to the complaint. Different people have different ways of reporting/dealing with what they might seem suspicious or illegal, I prefer to use the avenues I've previously used depending on the situation whether it be online, by phone or in person at the 15th. The main problem in my eyes is even after attention is drawn to a situation it doesn't take long for it to come back again. I rarely fault the PD with problems that constantly keep returning but it does lead to alot of the frustration both the police and residents continue to have. Hopefully you'll get some valuable info and be able to help anyone that might contact you. Maybe even a little more detail into certain things/areas you might be looking into could bring important info.

__________________
"Well, the new pastor, the young pastor, Reverend Otis Moss, is a wonderful young pastor,” Obama responded. “And as I said, I still very much value the Trinity community.”

RE-ELECT DAVID OH COUNCIL AT LARGE 2011

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/

like i said, if you choose to not take advantage of this contact, so be it.

but there is no reason to raise unnecessary doubt in the minds of people who ARE interested in passing information along.

i dont feel the need to register under an 'official' name either. the offer has been put out there and i sincerely hope (and anticipate) that people will use this opportunity in a positive way.