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Social Media Justice

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20 October 2017

By Alex Khalil

Picture this.

You’re on the run for drink-driving and assault. But you love the game. Like Hannibal or Moriarty, you are one of the greatest criminal masterminds on Earth. You love the chase before the catch. So, what do you do?

You set the local police force a challenge on Facebook.

Michael Zaydel promised to surrender and turn himself in (even bring the officers doughnuts) if the Redford Township Police Department could get a thousand shares on a post. He is currently serving eight weeks in jail, as the goal was met within an hour.

Officer Jennifer Mansfield told BBC Newsbeat:

‘We are very active with social media in our community. Mr Zaydel had been spending some time trolling our pages. Basically, being a nuisance, he made threats about messing with the kids’ Halloween candy and was telling us about his feelings towards law enforcement.’

He did, in fact, turn himself in and did buy the officers doughnuts, with one bagel also for the one officer who couldn’t eat doughnuts. The department said they don’t usually use social media to catch criminals, but is open to the idea if it gets results.

One way to catch a criminal.

 

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