AUSTIN – An Austin neighborhood plagued by break-ins is turning to social media to find the culprit.
Joey Carillo and other residents in McKinney Heights have been using NextDoor to communicate on a variety of issues, including crime.
After chronic issues with car break-ins in November 2014, Carillo invested in surveillance equipment. The problems eased until last Sunday when someone broke into several cars in the neighborhood, including his.
"I originally posted it to NextDoor for the rest of the neighbors to see," Carillo said about the young man caught on camera.
Cybersecurity experts say using social media to catch a criminal is an increasingly common trend.
"With the changing of times, law enforcement has to keep up with technology," said cybersecurity expert Mano Paul. "The collective power of the community actually gets to spread that word faster than law enforcement could."
There are warnings against over-sharing information, which Paul said could end up helping criminals instead of law enforcement.
