Law enforcementTo catch a "flash mob"

Published 23 September 2011

Catching “flash mobs” has proven to be particularly troublesome for local police officers as they occur and then dissipate so rapidly, but now local authorities are receiving some extra help from DHS

Most flash mobs are still intended to disrupt, but be fun // Source: listsoplenty.com

Catching “flash mobs” has proven to be particularly troublesome for local police officers as they occur and then dissipate so rapidly, but now local authorities are receiving some extra help from DHS.

In recent months, bands of miscreants have harnessed the power of mobile phones and social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to organize spontaneous flash mobs that then swarm into convenience stores looting everything in sight or assaulting bystanders.

Last month, surveillance cameras recorded several dozen young people flooding into convenience stores in Germantown, Maryland and Washington, D.C. where they stole armfuls of snacks and drinks as employees watched helplessly.

Meanwhile in August, city leaders in Philadelphia were forced to impose an early curfew on certain areas of the city after roving bands of teens beat and robbed residents in a wave of similar flash mob attacks across the city.

To combat this emerging form of crime, local police have teamed up with DHS agents. In Cleveland, Ohio police officers and Cuyahoga County Sheriffs now have the assistance of DHS’ Fusion Center, which was originally designed to monitor communications for potential terrorist activity, but now also monitors social media to detect coalescing flash mobs before they emerge.

The challenge to law enforcement is to know when you have a group that is there for trouble or have a group that is there for fun and communicate,” said Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid.

Sammy Morris, a spokesman for the Cleveland Police, said, “Our goal is to catch that message as soon as it goes out so that we’re not caught off guard.”

Detecting the flash mobs is not particularly difficult, said Fusion Center director Bill Schenkelberg, but having law enforcement officials on scene before the mob assembles is.

We’re dealing with a younger age group that aren’t real sophisticated. To pick up on what we are looking for is not very difficult at all,” Schenkelberg said.