It helps them solve crimes faster.
On July 2, photos posted to Snapchat allowed an NRP officer in Parkersburg to solve a deer-poaching case in less than an hour.
According to a release from the agency, an anonymous tipster sent three photos copied from Snapchat to Officer John Casto, who immediately posted them to the NRP’s Facebook page along with a request for information about the alleged poachers.
It didn’t take long to get results.
“Within an hour we had the individuals’ names,” Casto said.
One of the photos depicted a dead deer lying at the edge of a creek with bright-red blood trailing downstream from the carcass. A second photo showed an armed man walking away from the camera with the caption, “We out hereeee.” A third photo, captioned “poaching,” depicted a woman aiming a long-barreled firearm at the camera.
“Within two hours the woman contacted us,” Casto said. “She asked that her photo be taken down, and since she was cooperating with the investigation, we did.”
Lt. Col. David Trader of the NRP said another officer questioned both of the suspects and determined that the deer had been killed in Ohio, not West Virginia.
“We forwarded the information to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for follow-up,” Trader added.
Information gleaned from social media has also helped NRP officers solve several cases in West Virginia. Most cases involved the poaching of trophy buck deer or exceeding the creel limit for trout. In almost every case, the perpetrators had posted photos of their kills online.
“As an agency, we’re always looking for innovative ways to fight poaching and other crimes,” Trader said. “We have a lot of really smart, very educated young guys working for us -- guys who grew up using computers. It’s commonplace for them to use [technology-based] tools.
“We recognize the value of having that expertise on hand, so we send them to classes that train them on how to use social media for law enforcement.”
©2015 The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, W.Va. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
