GEORGE TOWN: Video clips posted on social media have proven to be effective in fighting crime as since January police have managed to arrest 87 suspects and solve 29 out of 35 cases based on evidence extracted from viral footage.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Huzir Mohamed told a press conference that police had a 83% success rate in solving criminal allegations made through viral social media clips.
In view of this, Huzir said that police will step up its collaboration with all social media users to hunt for suspects, including those who peddled fake clips with the intention to cause deceit, confusion, or unrest.
Police only this year began accumulating statistics on fighting crime through social media networks.
“The viral clips are the genuine ones and we welcome more recordings of alleged criminal acts and to load them on the police social media networks so we can investigate and determine the truth,“ Huzir told a press conference here. Also present was state police officer Comm Datuk T. Narenasagaran.
Huzir said that police now have specific accounts on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp’s cell number of 019 301 9930 for the public to post clips or share delicate information.
“We will be monitoring our social media accounts daily to pick up leads and tips on criminal activities.”
Police are using detectives and intelligence operatives to probe the viral clips and they have mastered the technology to determine if the clips were genuine or false.
According to Huzir, there were 35 clips circulated widely on social media since January, of which 29 cases were solved and 87 suspects arrested.
Some of the suspects have been charged in courts, some cases are awaiting further instructions from the public prosecutor, while others remained under investigation or placed in remand to facilitate probes, he said.
He said police were releasing such statistics to generate awareness among the public so that social media users can also distinguish between what are new and genuine clips, or what may actually be from archives or fake ones.
The viral clips usually are associated with physical abuse, extortion, rioting, fraud and automobile theft.
Selangor has the most of such cases with nine followed by Johor (five), Kedah (five), Kelantan (four), Kuala Lumpur (three), Perak (two), Negri Sembilan (two) Terengganu (two) and one each in Perlis, Sabah, and Sarawak, respectively.
