For most law enforcement agencies, property crimes such as burglary and auto theft make up a large part of their day-to-day, bread-and-butter policing. Procedures for investigating property crimes are well established, but the sheer volume of property crimes makes it difficult for LEAs to find the resources to adequately investigate them all. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported 13.4 million cases of property crime in the US during 2022, for example, the most recent statistics available at the time of writing.
Heavy use of social media by Americans in general has led to the increasing use of social media evidence in criminal cases. Powerful new social media intelligence (SOCMINT) tools such as Spokeo for Law Enforcement can help LEAs harness the potential of social media to resolve property crimes more frequently and efficiently, reducing the strain on budgets and available personnel. In this blog post, we’ll explore how SOCMINT can be utilized to build property crime cases.
The Scope of Property Crime
Ordinary burglaries attract little attention from headline writers, who earn more attention with stories of identity theft or violent crimes. Despite that lack of outside attention, the sheer numbers involved in property crime are staggering. For 2022 (again, the most recent statistics at the time of writing), the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer shows that property crime accounted for over $463.5 billion in losses to the victims. Of that total, only $38.9 billion in property, or approximately 8.4 percent, was recovered.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that there are over 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the US. At 13.4 million property crimes in 2022, that works out to an average of roughly 788 property crimes per year per LEA, or well over 2 per day. Some forces will see far more property crimes than others, but overall volumes are high.
This can impact agencies’ ability to adequately investigate each reported case. Often, it’s necessary to assess cases by the dollar amount or type of property stolen (firearms spring to mind), or by the likelihood of a successful resolution. This is undesirable on many grounds: it leaves many perpetrators free to strike again; victims may feel that their case has been ignored; and the likelihood of successfully recovering property drops with the passage of time. Any new tool or investigative procedure that can improve an LEA’s ability to build and close property crime cases can mitigate those negatives.
The Use of SOCMINT to Build Property Crime Cases
Although the details may differ between jurisdictions, courts in general have accepted the argument that social posts that can be viewed publicly can legitimately be treated as open-source and do not meet the standard for a “reasonable expectation of privacy.”
The difficulty lies in making the connection between a given post or account and a corresponding property crime. Let’s review some of the ways in which Spokeo for Law Enforcement can help make those connections.
Tracing a Piece of Stolen Property to Its Seller
Some criminals turn to popular buy/sell sites as a means to resell the property they’ve stolen. If a batch of items for sale corresponds to items reported stolen in a given case, that seller can reasonably be considered a person of interest. Vulnerabilities in this instance include any photos in the ad, the seller’s username, and any phone number or email address provided as a means of contact.
The photo can be searched using Google’s Reverse Image Search tool to establish whether it exists elsewhere on the internet, including publicly searchable social media accounts. Searching the username, email, or phone number with Spokeo will reveal other accounts using the same username, as well as names and additional emails or phone numbers tied to that username. Those searches will typically reveal one or more social media accounts, which may then be combed by investigators for identifying data.
Constructing a Timeline
Most social media platforms timestamp posts, comments, and other activity. Once a person of interest has been identified, those posts and their timestamps can be used to construct a timeline of the person’s movements and activity. If this information coincides with the dates and locations of the crime or crimes under investigation, it can be used to justify a subpoena of the cellular carrier’s records or a request for a geofenced warrant.
Together, the results of the Spokeo searches and/or the resulting warrant can create a compelling timeline for the original crime and subsequent disposition of the stolen property.
Finding Visual Evidence
Once a social media account has been identified as belonging to a person of interest, any public photos or videos uploaded to that account can be scrutinized for evidence. Those media may contain details that correspond to eyewitness accounts or phone videos, images of stolen property, or visual details that can help establish the time and place where the images were created. On some platforms, the original metadata contained within the images may be retained, which can include a timestamp and geolocation.
Drawing Connections with Associates
Uncovering social accounts belonging to a person of interest can also play a vital role in expanding the circle of their known associates. Their lists of friends and followers, and those who interact with their posts, become information for further Spokeo searches. Many may have used their real names on those accounts, but Spokeo’s results can frequently link even anonymous or pseudonymous accounts to a specific individual. Tracing those connections in turn can help uncover previously unsuspected links and new persons of interest to investigate.
Note that some connections not linked to criminal activity, such as romantic partners and family members, may also inadvertently reveal pertinent information about a suspect’s activities or whereabouts.
Putting the Pieces Together
To illustrate how Spokeo’s product and other open-source tools can be used to resolve property crimes, we can construct a hypothetical workflow for investigators in a property crime case. This workflow is informed by real-world case studies in Spokeo’s files, and reflects actions taken by investigators in the field, though it does not correspond in all details to a specific case.
Step 1: Begin With a Known Piece of Data
The investigative process can begin with any single known piece of data. If investigators have a positive or tentative identification of the perpetrator, that makes an excellent starting point. Barring that, a simple search of buy-sell sites in the area for items similar to those stolen is a useful first step. The username or telephone number of a seller (and potential person of interest) is also potentially useful.
Step 2: Perform a Spokeo Search Using the Known Data
Enter any known piece of data into Spokeo’s search box. An initial search on a name should reveal that person’s address, phone numbers and email addresses, age, social media accounts, and much more (including any criminal records). Similarly, a search based on a phone number, email address, or online username should return a name and a similar set of data.
Step 3: Review Their Social Media Accounts
The newly uncovered person of interest’s social posts can reveal further useful information, including personal connections and often photographs similar or identical to those used in the for-sale ad.
Step 4: Drill Down on Images
Use Google’s Reverse Image Search tool with photos from the for-sale ad or the social media account to see if they occur on other sites as well. If so, those other platforms may contain information you didn’t already have, such as a location or a version of the photo with its metadata intact. Utilities to extract that metadata are readily available online and can be found with a simple search.
If the previous searches turned up a possible address for the person of interest, looking at that address using Google’s Street View can help investigators identify buildings or landmarks visible in the background of those images. Should that fail, repeating the search using the addresses of the person’s family members and known associates may yield usable results.
Step 5: Correlate Dates Across Platforms
Having established grounds for further interest, at a minimum, re-examine those social media accounts with an eye to dates and locations. Cross-reference them against each other to create a timeline of the target’s activities, location, and conversations around the time of the crime, as well as against the first upload of any ads seeking to sell potentially stolen property.
This deeper scrutiny may also uncover unguarded or incautious communications between the target and other contacts, especially on platforms (such as game-related chat channels) that aren’t typically thought of as “social media.” Spokeo’s social search is unusually comprehensive, covering 129 platforms at the time of writing, and can often uncover such self-incriminating posts or chats should they exist.
Step 6: Proceed to a Resolution
Depending on the nature and quality of the information uncovered through these steps, investigators may seek subpoenas or search warrants, set up a “buyer” sting to purchase stolen property from the suspect, or proceed directly to an arrest.
It is important to note that screenshots should be taken and logged whenever an image or post is relevant to the investigation. Otherwise, should the suspect remove that post or change its status to Private, it can no longer be considered part of the chain of evidence.
Real-World Testing for Real-World Problems
Hypothetical examples, and even real-world case studies, do not necessarily translate into success in the field for a given LEA. The ultimate test of a new tool is how well it performs on a hands-on basis.
For a longer look at how Spokeo can help your department resolve property crime cases, reach out to our team using the contact information on our Law Enforcement page. Our team will be happy to answer your questions, set up a demonstration of the product, or even arrange a no-cost, hands-on live trial of the product. Subscription plans are available to meet the needs of LEAs of all sizes and budgets.
Sources
Bureau of Justice Statistics: Criminal Victimization, 2022
Pew Research: Americans’ Social Media Use
Bureau of Justice Statistics: Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2018
Google Search Help: Search With an Image on Google