More than 40 police departments across the country are turning to YouTube, the popular video repository of social media, to communicate with the public and catch criminals.
Among the cities: Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Tucson and Kansas City, Mo.
Philadelphia police say YouTube videos have helped them solve 85 cases since February 2011 — part of the department's "Video Villains" program that posts unsolved crime surveillance videos hoping for tips.
"We are at the forefront; we are pushing the envelope," Philadelphia police Lt. Ray Evers says. "We have had great success in having the public help us solve crime."
In one case, Philadelphia police quickly caught a suspect after a woman boarded a bus and punched an unsuspecting passenger 10 times in the face, head, neck and shoulders.
Two days after detectives posted video surveillance from the bus on YouTube, it had 117,950 hits, and a tip came in that led to the suspect's arrest.
The Kansas City Police Department has posted at least 46 surveillance videos on its YouTube channel hoping for tips.
"It's been very successful, especially for our robbery unit," spokeswoman Sarah Boyd says. "Detectives are much more likely to put the video up because they know it's so easy."
Posting surveillance videos to YouTube gives news media instant access so they can spread the footage quickly, Boyd says.
YouTube and other social-media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook, let police cut down on time spent answering phone calls, Sacramento Police Department Sgt. Andrew Pettit says. "If we tweet something, we can put the info out instantaneously, and everyone gets it. It's a viral communication network," Pettit says.