Social media is proving a powerful crime-fighting and information-sharing tool for Northland police.
A police Facebook page is nabbing up to five criminals a week and notching up a success rate of about 95 per cent, a top Far North cop says.
Social media has turned into an everyday crime-fighting tool since it was pioneered in the North by Houhora Senior Constable Tracee
Knowler, who shot to national prominence when she used Facebook to catch the so-called Buttcrack Bandit.
It has also proved invaluable for sharing information quickly with large numbers of people, for example during the July floods when police used it to update motorists on weather conditions, hazards and road closures. Firm numbers of how many crimes have been solved with help from Northland's online community are hard to come by but the anecdotal evidence is impressive.
Senior Sergeant Chris McLellan said the Northland police page was averaging five arrests a week and had a success rate of about 95 per cent. A typical post was viewed 10,000 times, received 30-40 comments and prompted 3-4 calls to the Crimestoppers tip line.
"Social media gives us the ability to reach a lot of people, very quickly, at the push of a button," he said.
