Cold Case Chat Recap: April 1, 2011

Today I was privileged to guest host the Cold Case Live Chat on Twitter from 12-1 p.m. EST, using the hashtag #CClivechat. This weekly Friday chat began in February, hosted by @Vidocq_CC and @ColdCaseSquad. My Twitter username is @katcop13.

I started a thread of discussion concerning the recent discovery of a 5th body on Gilgo Beach. When a K-9 officer searched Gilgo Beach in December for missing person Shannan Gilbert, he found remains -- and additional searching turned up three more bodies -- but none turned out to be Shannan. The latest body was located about a mile away. The police will now expand the search to reach approximately 7.5 miles.

The fifth body has also turned out not to be Shannan. This piece of information was revealed to us during the tweet chat from @ColdCaseSquad. The most recent update can be read here.

Anyone with information about the victims found at Gilgo Beach or the whereabouts of Shannan Gilbert can anonymously contact the SCPD by leaving a tip here.

Richard Mark Case (@TrickyCase), a fingerprint expert from The Fingerprint Society in the U.K., joined in the first half of the chat to answer questions. We learned that fingerprints would be too difficult to lift from building materials due to its coarseness, but there's a chance a finger/palmprint can be left in wet cement. The discussion continued concerning several other sources from which a print can or can't be lifted -- even skin!

Richard believes the best opportunity for prints in the Heath case would be the garbage bags.

The lively chat included questions and comments about DNA, fabric, vacuum metal deposition, and several other topics.

Another thread I began had to do with the recent request by the FBI for assistance in cracking a code in a 1999 case. Turns out this particular case stems from St. Louis ~ @bluedog89's neck of the woods, and we learned that @LilacLounge is interested in cryptography. These chats are always fascinating.

Thanks to @TrickyCase @ColdCaseSquad @LilacLounge @oceanbluepress and @bluedog89 for participating in today's chat ~ and I am grateful to @jamesatkinspics @UCsci @nancyjparra @DiscoveryID for their RTs.

You can read a transcript on either Tweetdoc.org or SearchHash (I tried fitting one of them onto this blog post, but was unsuccessful).

I look forward to participating in many more Cold Case Live Chats ~ hope to see you there.

The Location Craze - a Burglar's Dream

Be careful when disclosing your location on social media sites ~ it may be nice to discuss where you are ~ but it tells burglars where you're not: at home.

PleaseRobMe.com was developed for this reason, to point out the danger of publicly broadcasting your movements. They launched their site in February 2010, but have since taken it down, saying their point had been made. Their web page has several blog posts listed which discuss this issue of "over-sharing."

Posting photos can give away your location, too.

ICanStalkU.com is another site meant to raise awareness about inadvertent information sharing.

You may not realize it, but if you are posting photos taken from a smart phone, you may be giving away your location due to geotagging. If you'd like to know more about geotagging, and how to disable it on your smart phone, check out these directions.

ICanStalkU.com makes its point by asking, "What are people really saying in their tweets?" and posting the location where the tweeter's smart phone took the photo and even providing a map -- information they were able to glean from the smart phone photo. If they can do it, so can the bad guys.

Ever since the launch of Foursquare and its subsequent popularity, Facebook and Twitter begain letting people include a location as part of their tweets.

Read the post on Mashable about the popularity of Foursquare, a location-based social network.

This reminds me of how some burglars have chosen their victims the old-fashioned way -- by reading the obituaries and the wedding announcements in the newspaper.

Twitter Fiction on Nanoism

I am pleased to announce that one of my twitter-fiction stories was accepted and is now appearing on Nanoism.net ("A paying twitterzine/litmag for thoughtful nanofiction"). Titles for these stories are neither required or accepted.

The editor, Ben White, has also tweeted the story @nanoism, along with my bio.

It is based upon my police experience on the Crime Stoppers tips line.

Check it out ~ and let me know what you think!

Artwork source here.

Police Twitter Accounts

I had a lovely surprise on Twitter.com when I read a tweet from Jeanette K., aka @jnetcat5, with a link to her Tactical Pants blog post, "Top 78 Police Twitter Accounts," that included my Twitter account, @katcop13. I follow many of the accounts Jeanette has listed, and I found several new ones.

Thanks, Jeanette!

In addition to law enforcement-related topics, I tweet about writing, authors, the publishing industry, and items of general interest. I enjoy the information-sharing that Twitter provides. Are you active on Twitter? Do you find it useful? Or are you Twitter-shy?

(Photo from Tactical Pants blog)