Helping Police Identify Cars

[ROOODBOY]

I've just been watching Sky News and heard the terrible story of the little boy who was killed in a hit-and-run on saturday.

The article referred to police trying to identify a light-coloured hatchback of which there are cctv images.

That got me thinking, with the geek-like knowledge that so many of us have on here, I reckoned that if the police posted a picture of the car that we could probably have it identified within minutes!

It seems a shame that our vast collective knowledge of all things automobile related can't be put to good use, or do the police do this already?

[MikeGTi]

I think when they mean identify they're referring more to identifying which exact car it is, i.e. registration mark etc, rather than what make and model it is.

[ROOODBOY]

Yes, I did wonder that, but there must be occasions that the cctv image is a bit blurry or the car a bit far away and the identity of the make and model can't be easily established?

I still think such a huge collective of car nuts could save the police some time, perhaps..?

I should have made that a bit clearer!

[left to right]

Could you emagine the arguments.

[Major Fallout]

The arguments would only be over which shade of red, or what engine size it was.

[Cattleman]

left to right said:

Could you emagine the arguments.

No but I could perhaps "Imagine" it.

[Elroy Blue]

There's plenty of car geeks in the Police.

[Robb F]

left to right said:

Could you emagine the arguments.

Is there a new line of Audis out or something?

[TheMoron]

Someone would almost certainly suggest it's an MX-5 straight away

[AlexiusG55]

You occasionally get threads like this on Jalopnik, for example http://jalopnik.com/5754259/help-authorities-id-th...

[Celt]

Is guess there's an issue of pride. I don't imagine the media would let the police get away with using a site as petty as this despite the massive amount of money spent on intelligence.

[uncinquesei]

a few years ago the police came into work (Audi centre) for help identifying car used in armed robbery. Still taken from CCTV showed enough for me to see it was an RS6 (in Daytona grey - extra anorak points). they subsequently caught them. Robbery in Manchester i think, and we are in Swansea... that's a hell of a getaway, must've stopped twice for fuel.

[Blakewater]

Obviously having the registration would be best but being able to state the make and model to people would be better than just, "Pale coloured hatchback." Trouble is though, they want witnesses and not all of them would know what kind of car you were talking about if you just named the make and model. They wouldn't know whether it was a small hatchback or a big SUV. They need someone to identify the car and if the CCTV images can't be made public show a picture of one like it.

[Elroy Blue]

You're missing the point that they probably already know what car it is. You don't reveal everything straight away.