Not Your Father's FBI

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today that it is going social and transparent in a big way.  Celebrating “Sunshine Week”--promoting open government and freedom of information—the FBI’s revealed its new website (www.FBI.gov) contains user friendly features and navigation tools, replete with RSS news feeds and Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter links. 

This is a whole new world of search ability on crime statistics, child ID apps, podcasts, email and text message alerts, Spanish language translations, and many other new features.  “The Vault” link opens the door to publicly released files going back to the origins of the FBI.  This resource will be valuable for lawyers and historians alike, covering a wide range of topical categories, including: civil rights, counterterrorism, foreign counterintelligence, fugitives, gangs, the gangster era, organized crime, public corruption, and violent crime. There is also a “Widgets” feature to incorporate FBI content on your own website or blog.

Buying some art? You can now check the national stolen art file to find out if it is hot.  Suspicious about a practice that might be a scam? Check the “Scams & Safety” link. Does that new neighbor on Wisteria Lane look suspicious?  Check them against photos of wanted fugitives or sex offender lists.

Gallop’s Take:  Assuming visitors to the site are not immediately investigated, we applaud the FBI for making accessible in new and convenient ways important information on its activities and history.  Of course, there are no leads on open investigations for obvious reasons, but enabling interested parties to use the web viewer to review important information can only contribute to the administration of justice, crime prevention, and advancement of knowledge.  This should expand the 50 million hits the FBI reported its website received in 2011.