7 Ways to be a Good Citizen Detective

In today's world we can no longer discount the value of citizen detectives. Here are just a few examples of cases from recent memory successfully solved by tips from amateur investigators:

• In 2009, a group of dedicated Redditors pieced together information to implicate a suspect in the murder of lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare just eight months earlier.
• In 2015, online sleuths uncovered information in the Grateful Doe case that later confirmed the unidentified car accident victim as 19-year-old Jason Callahan, missing from Myrtle Beach, SC for 20 years.
• Perennial CrimeCon fan-favorite Billy Jensen has successfully built a career from his amateur investigations.

CrimeCon: CrowdSolve is an event that seeks to put the best citizen detectives to work. What we discovered in the planning stages is that there’s no employee handbook for this. We don’t know exactly what makes a “good” citizen detective. 

This lack of definition has led to some notable follies that have given online sleuths a bad reputation - the kind of follies we must avoid at CrowdSolve. What better person to consult to establish proper online sleuthing behavior than the original citizen detective himself, Todd Matthews?

Matthews rose to fame in the true crime world when he successfully identified the “Tent Girl” cold case victim as Barbara Ann Hackman Taylor. Matthews’s father-in-law discovered her remains in 1968, almost 20 years before Matthews took up the case in 1987 as a matter of curiosity. Matthews used records he found online to compare missing person’s reports and police records until he found a victim that met Tent Girl’s description.

“It was the wild, wild West of the internet,” Matthews says. “There was no Google, no 'online sleuths’ back then.” As a pioneer in the coming age of true crime obsession, Matthews admits he made mistakes. Here are some ways Matthews says citizen detectives can be most effective and helpful for law enforcement:

Don’t make unsolicited contact with anyone involved in the case. Listeners of The Murder Squad will recognize this rule as one of host Billy Jensen and Paul Holes’s own: Don’t go real-life. “I contacted the victim’s family myself and I shouldn’t have done that,” he confesses. Contacting the victims, families, or suspects in an open case could jeopardize an active investigation, drive away potential witnesses, or re-victimize those affected by the case. (CCI note: Plus, it’s tacky.)

Narrow your focus. To find actionable information that law enforcement can use, it’s helpful to home in on specific aspects of the case. For example, if an unidentified victim has a distinctive feature such as a tattoo, focus your attention on finding that feature as you look through missing persons cases. “Don’t just take a wild guess and say ‘I think this unidentified victim is this person,’” Matthews says. “If you say ‘Here are three cases I found that may have similar markings,’ police can move on that information.”

Go low tech. Scrolling through microfilm at the library may sound old-fashioned with the wealth of information available online, but don’t underestimate low-tech resources, says Matthew. “It is a time-consuming task but I have found cases in old newspapers that police didn’t even know were still open. Just because it’s not online doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.” Speaking of which. . .

Volunteer your time. Being a good citizen detective doesn’t mean you have to sit at your computer all day. “There are so many files and records that aren’t digitized,” says Matthews. “Contact your local libraries or law enforcement divisions and ask if you can help scan files, transcribe tapes, or whatever they need.” Don’t be offended if you’re turned away; due to chain of custody issues, some branches may be hesitant to give a civilian access to files.

Don’t expect credit. “Many times when someone submits a tip, law enforcement already knows that information. They might not be able to divulge that to you at that time,” explains Matthews. If you’re in it for the credit, he says, you’re in it for the wrong reason. “The Doe Network is all about the victims,” Matthews says. “If you genuinely want to help victims and help families get justice, that goes a long way towards being a good citizen detective.”

Respect the process. What should a good citizen detective do with the information they uncover? “Contact law enforcement immediately,” Matthews emphasizes.  Every piece of information and evidence must follow the chain of custody in order to be admissible in court. (Note: Investigators will be present at CrowdSolve to ensure any new information participants find follows the proper chain of custody.)

Advocate, advocate, advocate. One of the best things a good citizen detective can do, says Matthews, is to advocate for legislation reform. For example, Matthews notes that there are currently only eight states legally obligated to enter missing and unidentified persons into the NamUS database. “Call and write to your representatives and advocate for this kind of legislation. The more resources to help law enforcement - and the public - close these cases, the better.”

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Are YOU a good citizen detective? If so, we’ll need your help at CrowdSolve! Click here to learn more or register.