Social Media Helps Chinese Police Solve Kidnapping Cases

China has a serious problem with child kidnapping (full disclosure: I’m making a film about it from the perspective of parents who’ve lost their kids, so I may be a bit biased). And while parents have been using social media for years to try to find their kids, it appears the police may also be using services like Sina Weibo to aid in investigations into kidnappings.

Today’s Beijing News contains an interview with Chen Shiqu, an official with a special PSB investigative team that attacks kidnapping cases. Chen says they opened their Weibo account last December, and since then they’ve gotten over 1,500 tips and clues relating to kidnapping cases.

Most recently, Weibo clues led police to crack a kidnapping ring that had taken 15 children from Zunyi, Guizhou, and sold them to places in Henan, Shaanxi, and Hebei. The children have all since been returned to their parents. But Chen says that the clues they’ve gotten through Weibo have also helped in other cases, and led to the rescue of “a bunch” of kidnapped kids.

The PSB team’s Weibo account isn’t the most interactive. Chen says they keep their replies simple and vague to avoid tipping their hand to kidnapping rings that may be watching the account. Parents and tipsters often get replies like “there’s hope” or “we’re investigating that,” but if it eventually leads to an actual resolution of the case, we can’t imagine anyone is going to complain.

Chen also says that thanks to police’s harsh crackdowns, kidnappers are now “effectively in check.” As someone who has been researching for this issue for the past year, I’d have to disagree. Independent assessments indicate that tens of thousands of kids in China are kidnapped each year, and I have met dozens of parents whose kids have been kidnapped but I have yet to meet a single set of parents whose kids have been returned to them by police. The percentage of cases solved is still woefully low.

So, while it’s good news that a case was solved and better news that the police are embracing social media to help in their operations, I think it’s way too early to declare “mission accomplished.” But here’s hoping the tips keep flowing in and the police continue to be able to solve cases based on them!

[Beijing News via Sina Tech]