Tulsa Police Say 'Catch 'Em If You Can' Program Is Already Having An Impact

Tulsa Police say their “Catch ‘Em If You Can” campaign is catching on.

The program has been in place for six months and police say it has an 85 percent success rate of getting suspected criminals off the streets.

The premise is simple – find a suspect’s identity by posting a picture of someone stealing, writing a bad check, or using a stolen credit card and then it’s up to those on social media to catch ‘em if they can.

“Our whole goal in identifying these suspects is to prevent future crimes,” said Detective Matt Rose.

It’s an effort to cut down on white collar crimes, like the woman who police say tried to cash a stolen check at a bank at 31st and Harvard, or the man accused of using counterfeit money at a pharmacy, or numerous people who have used stolen credit cards.

“We had a case of, again, an unauthorized use of a credit card where, actually, a family member from Dallas called us up and said ‘that Catch ‘Em If You Can post, I know who that suspect is, it’s a family friend,’” said Rose.

Detective Rose says tips have come in from all over Green Country and other places, even as far away as Italy.

“We have such a good outreach from Glenpool Police, Broken Arrow Police, Owasso Police,” said Rose.  “We get phone calls from all these other officers saying, ‘Hey, on that Catch ‘Em If You Can post, we know who that is.’”

The most recent suspect they’re hoping you can identify is a woman police say used a stolen credit card at a convenience store.  That post has already been shared nearly 500 times in just two days.

“We’re asking people to share it, like it, and comment on it,” said Rose.

Police say those shares, clicks, and comments are key to getting the most attention.

Most of the people who come forward to identify a suspect are family members and close friends, so police want to stress that all tips can be made anonymously.