Police target rioters with smartphone app

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 26 Jun 2012 at 09:09

The Metropolitan Police is hoping to crowdsource the identities of 2,880 suspects from last year’s riots using a smartphone app.

Using the Facewatch ID app, the police hope to add to the 3,000 rioters already identified from last year’s looting spree by posting images from CCTV footage in their area.

The police want the public to download the app - available for iPhones or Android handsets - and then enter a postcode before scrolling through a selection of grainy CCTV images of unidentified people that the officers “would like to talk to”.

“If an image is known to the viewer, they have the opportunity to enter the name and/or address of the person shown, which is then sent immediately and confidentially to the police,” the Met said in a statement.

My hope is that the two-thirds of Londoners who own smartphones will download this app, and help us identify people we still need to speak to

The project can be accessed online, and also targets low-level crimes unrelated to the riots and a further 2,000 images are available to virtual vigilantes.

However, the Met hopes the app will prove popular, expecting the majority of Londoners to participate - and frequently.

“My hope is that the two-thirds of Londoners who own smartphones will download this app, and help us identify people we still need to speak to,” said assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, head of Specialist Crime & Operations. "We need Londoners to browse through the app every week or so as new images will appear regularly."