I think this is a really good idea. The FBI will be putting mugshots of wanted fugitives, missing children, and more on billboards. people still read billboards because they are bored while driving or riding in a car. I think the FBI will get results from these billboards and wanted fugitives will be recognized more often.
I hope it has success with missing children as well. One out of Seven missing children that are found are found because someone saw their picture.
FBI to put criminals, security issues up in digital billboard lights
The FBI today said it wants to install 150 digital billboards in 20 major U.S. cities in the next few weeks to show fugitive mug shots, missing people and high-priority security messages from the big bureau.
The billboards will let the FBI highlight those people it is looking for the most: violent criminals, kidnap victims, missing kids, bank robbers, even terrorists, the FBI said in a release. And the billboards will be able to be updated largely in real-time —right after a crime is committed, a child is taken, or an attack is launched.
The ability to get that information out quickly is the best feature of this program. The first minutes and hours of a child being kidnapped are crucial as is the first span of time after a crime like bank robbery.
The homeland security aspect of this is also good. The FBI can act swiftly if they get a tip about a terrorist attack.
The FBI said it tested its first billboard in the Philadelphia area in September, with crystal-clear images of 11 of its most violent fugitives on eight billboards and a 24-hour hotline for the public to call. The billboards paid quick public safety dividends. In October, two fugitives were captured as a direct result of the publicity, the FBI said.
We at Most Wanted Newspaper know this is no exaggeration. This blog started long after our actual newspaper was published with pictures of local wanted fugitives in Modesto, Califoirnia.
In our very first publication, our first fugitive capture came two hours after the newspaper was distributed. There was some luck involved, but many times that is exactly what triggers a capture. A little luck never hurts.
Our distributor dropped papers off at a local restaurant where they were given to customers to read while waiting on their orders. One customer spotted our cover fugitive waiting at a bus stop right outside the restaurant.
So kudos to the FBI for using these realtime billboards. May they have all the success and luck they need to capture wanted fugitives and find kidnapped children.
I just hope that they do not turn the control of it over to America’s Most wanted Television Entertainment Show or the NCMEC.
America’s Most wanted is trademarked as an entertainment television show and that is exactly what it is.
When the Amber Alert first started, it was used for cases where a child was abducted by a stranger or where the child was in real danger. As soon as the NCMEC got control of it, they started using it for parental abductions where the child was not in danger.
When it was used only in serious cases where the child was in danger, people paid attention to it. There are about 100 stranger abductions in a year.
Now that you see daily Amber Alerts in cases where the child is not in danger, it has become mundane and people are desensitized to it and pay no attention.
If the NCMEC or America’s Most Wanted was to get control of this billboard system, the same thing would occur because they are interested in how much attention they can get and their PR experts have a million dollar a year budget and use commercial marketing techniques to make sure the organizations get a lot of attention.
