FBI rolling out digital billboards in 20 cities

Employing public signage in the pursuit of suspects is probably about as old as criminology itself, so it's no surprise to see the FBI leveraging the latest technology to erect some of the largest, most versatile wanted posters in history. Thanks to a partnership with advertising giant Clear Channel Outdoor, the G-men will deploy some 150 digital billboards -- capable of displaying fugitives, missing children, or public safety info in real-time -- to 20 major cities around the country, following a successful trial launched in Philadelphia in September. So if you're planning on committing a felony in Des Moines, Iowa or Akron, Ohio soon, better get it done quick, lest your ugly mug become the talk of the car pool during your morning commute. List of all the lucky cities after the break.

[Via Slashdot]

• Akron
• Albuquerque
• Atlanta
• Chicago
• Cleveland
• Columbus
• Des Moines
• El Paso
• Indianapolis
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• Memphis
• Miami
• Milwaukee
• Minneapolis
• Newark
• Orlando
• Philadelphia
• Tampa
• Wichita

[Jared @ Dec 27th 2007 11:02AM]

Chris Rock is wanted? Noooo! Run brotha! Run!!!

[paul @ Dec 27th 2007 1:16PM]

Wow. Racist.

[Jared @ Dec 27th 2007 2:12PM]

It was a joke because he looks like Chris Rock. Sigh... It's sad that I even have to say this but I am also black... For pete's sake.

[DJDevine @ Dec 27th 2007 4:20PM]

lol busted for looking hungry and carring a conceiled sandwich

[derka @ Dec 27th 2007 6:13PM]

Looks more like Vick

[SimbaDogg @ Dec 27th 2007 11:20PM]

looks ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like chris rock...unless you're one of the ignorant ass people that says "all black peole look alike" "all asian people look alike" "all hispanic look alike" etc...

[daedalus @ Dec 27th 2007 11:02AM]

It'd be cheaper and more effective for Philadelphia to just build a giant mirror facing Camden

[paragraph @ Dec 27th 2007 11:03AM]

...ouch

that one hurt inside :'(

[Jimmy Rivera @ Dec 27th 2007 1:09PM]

Although I found the attempt at humor mildly amusing, being a Camden Resident who passes by that digital billboard everyday, believing that Camden is home of most of the most wanteds/murderers is kinda stretching the truth. Killadelphia is eating Camden, NJ's murder capital of the country title for breakfast this year. So ummmm, point the mirror the other way buddy.

[daedalus @ Dec 27th 2007 2:34PM]

@Jimmy

I appreciate your mild amusement at my attempted humor.

Having lived in Philly from 2004 - 2006, I wholeheartedly agree with you. The city is falling to shit. Nothing like a corrupt ineffective government with a corrupt ineffective police force to speed up the deurbanization of a once relevant city. I've never actually seen this billboard, but I'd like to think that it's located at the entrance to the Ben Franklin Bridge, so that as the dwindling population of the birthplace of freedom flees to the exurbs of New Jersey, they're left with a name a face and a phone number to attribute the death of their city to.

[Jimmy Rivera @ Dec 27th 2007 2:43PM]

"I've never actually seen this billboard, but I'd like to think that it's located at the entrance to the Ben Franklin Bridge, so that as the dwindling population of the birthplace of freedom flees to the exurbs of New Jersey, they're left with a name a face and a phone number to attribute the death of their city to."

Oddly enough it is one or two blocks away from the Ben Franklin and the very road that leads to it(Linden Street I think), but faces the traffic that enters the city. But yeah, point made, Philly is gettin pretty bad.

[SteveMB @ Dec 27th 2007 5:37PM]

"Nothing like a corrupt ineffective government with a corrupt ineffective police force to speed up the deurbanization of a once relevant city."

Welcome to Milwaukee.

[Kelley Doern @ Dec 27th 2007 12:05PM]

they need to make ones in high traffic areas to show "america's most wanted" and give us yet another thing to do while driving

[paragraph @ Dec 27th 2007 11:03AM]

New Yorkers/Las Vagas....ians - Not Impressed

How is this anything special? Seriously? Ever been to NYC/Vegas they have like a million of these.

I guess the nifty thing is that it's not really and ad, and it does have amber alert potential... but still not seeing how this is new.

[Naomi @ Dec 27th 2007 3:01PM]

well they're dedicated to public service stuff.




Also, it's 'Las Vegans'.

[kev @ Dec 27th 2007 11:03AM]

Nice, so they'll be able to post up warnings for all of these guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoYCqiO_nJI

:P

[Michael S @ Dec 27th 2007 11:06AM]

Maybe they could add a number you can text your Hot or Not vote to.

[Mike @ Dec 27th 2007 11:32AM]

Do I sense a mild "dig" at Akron, Ohio in this article? I think I do! I live and work in Akron, Ohio and I think most people are too distracted by the constant road construction that we have on the highways where our digital boards are located that they won't even look at them.

However, about 50% of Akron is the University of Akron and the surrounding areas, and the other 50% of the city wraps around that, so there's quite a mix of population here and being still very "poor" of an area when compared to Cleveland or Columbus, I could see this alert system working for some good - of course, that means we have to use our cell phones while driving... blasphemy!

[Katie Molnar @ Dec 27th 2007 11:53AM]

"Ever been to NYC/Vegas they have like a million of these."

Actually, these are the first outdoor electronic signs ever employed by the FBI... The point here is not the technology -- it never really is.

Multi-touch is why some people like the iPhone, but multi-touch has been around since the eighties. It's the application that made it unique.

Same deal here. Large-scale electronic signage has been affordable by government types for a long while now, but this is a creative application.

No doubt this will leverage that new public safety channel to be coming on line in the 700MHz band.

[Robert McFair @ Dec 27th 2007 11:38AM]

OK let's hook this thing up to the "largest biometric database in the world" run by the mindset of of a guy that wanted to imprison 12,000 people without charging them with anything AND the present Bushlaws that allow such things. Hmmmm If we ain't gettin scared now sumpin's really really wrong wit us.

[OneLove @ Dec 27th 2007 11:43AM]

dude looks so embarrassed. lol.

[wickedpheonix @ Dec 27th 2007 11:39AM]

wow no Washington DC love... that's kinda disturbing in a way, considering who's putting up for these.

[J-2 @ Dec 27th 2007 1:25PM]

I was wondering the same thing. I mean, the FBI is headquartered in Washington, DC, so it only makes sense to have at least one billboard in the DC-Metropolitan area (or at least the nation's capital, right?).

Another interesting ommission is New York City (ya know, one of the busiest cities in the country). Maybe they had some other data like the home regions of the majority of most wanteds, and used that to decide what the most "in-need" locations were.

[William @ Dec 27th 2007 3:32PM]

I can understand why no DC or New York. Most of the people take the MTA, or the Metro, which are underground. No use for a billboard above ground if most of the people are under it.

[wickedpheonix @ Dec 27th 2007 3:44PM]

@ William:

You have obviously never seen the extremely clogged highways in the DC area (or the infamous ones in NY for that matter). DC metro highways also serve people who live quite far away, since housing is still pretty expensive people live far out and take 2 hour+ commutes, outside the reaches of the metro system. If you really wanted to, you could put these signs or some similar like them into the busy transfer stations (metro center, gallery place, l'enfant plaza for example).

[Ike Skelton @ Dec 27th 2007 11:40AM]

Digital billboards are the devil. Lets shoot them all out.

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 27th 2007 11:58AM]

what the f*** are you talking about?

[boynamedsue @ Dec 27th 2007 1:04PM]

I believe this particular poster is submitting his opinion that digital billboards are the devil, and thus suggesting that we should shoot them out.

I could be wrong but thats what i got out of it.

[Jaymez @ Dec 27th 2007 11:41AM]

Digital Billboards need to be banned on road sides. Way too distracting.

Hell, ban traditional billboards, too. Too ugly.

[Naomi @ Dec 27th 2007 3:03PM]

Hopefully these won't be flashy, just switch to more current data occasionally.

[NovaLand @ Dec 27th 2007 3:58PM]

They're gonna switch to pr0n ads now and then to bring in the money for the warrants

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 27th 2007 11:41AM]

Cleveland already has stuff like this for ads, but it really needs these

[james @ Dec 27th 2007 11:42AM]

This screams sci-fi future. Sci-fi writers are prophets, I tell you!

[Ian @ Dec 27th 2007 7:07PM]

please dont tell me you believe in scientology..

[fistpittingnork @ Dec 27th 2007 11:43AM]

150 billboards in 20 cities. Instead of putting 7 or so in each of those cities, why wouldn't they spread these out across the country?

There's at least 30 cities in the US with populations reaching over half a million. Seems it'd be more effective with more people seeing 1 billboard compared to 1 person seeing the same face on 3 different billboards on their way to work.

[j.shifton @ Dec 27th 2007 11:51AM]

"about as old as criminology itself"

I think you mean criminal justice, not the study of crime...

[Matthew Hilario @ Dec 27th 2007 11:54AM]

MUSA HADY BAD DAY!

[pezman726 @ Dec 27th 2007 1:26PM]

Wow....that's about all I can say to that one! just....wow...

[Matthew Hilario @ Dec 27th 2007 2:40PM]

musta had a bad day? is that stretching it? ;\

[Andrew @ Dec 27th 2007 11:57AM]

Is that guy sucking in his lips?

[John @ Dec 27th 2007 11:59AM]

They just installed 1 of these in Reno last week (maybe 2... it looks like there is another one on the other side of the road, but it isn't turned on yet) but so far, I haven't seen any FBI most wanted notices. Mainly its been local city info and a "faces of meth" ad which seems to imply that the "faces" all have goatees.

[fred @ Dec 27th 2007 12:01PM]

I'm gonna laugh my balls off when some smart kid comes along and hacks these things, and starts running the Mooninites or old South Park reruns on them.

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 27th 2007 12:03PM]

and eventually get his ass badly smacked by the FBI. he'll be in no condition to do anything for the rest of his life.

[fred @ Dec 27th 2007 12:32PM]

No question. Still would be pretty funny. Either that or we see how long it takes before the thing flashes a Windows blue screen, and stays that way for 6 months. Don't get me wrong I'm not anti-establishment or anything, I just wonder how many FBI agents we could hire to go look for these wanted people if they just paid somebody to change the damn sign once a month or something.

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 27th 2007 12:01PM]

i think he is muslim

[Tony @ Dec 27th 2007 12:06PM]

Uh oh...my cover has been blown *puts on ninja mask*

[Jon @ Dec 27th 2007 12:07PM]

Dad?

[fred @ Dec 27th 2007 12:33PM]

Best comment ever.

[Jake @ Dec 27th 2007 12:49PM]

How long before David Graham's giant head shows up on there and someone throws a sledgehammer through it?

[Mad @ Dec 27th 2007 1:05PM]

Why didn't they use a mugshot of the pedophile Mormon guy who was on the FBI most wanted list instead? why it had to be a brother.