VIDEO-SHARING website YouTube has now become an unconventional crime-fighter in Canada, triggering alarms over police intrusion.



Canadian police posted surveillance video this month on the popular website, in which users share video clips, hoping to nab a murderer.

The one-minute video shows people entering a Hamilton, Ontario, bar hours before two young men were stabbing in a brawl outside, following a hip-hop concert.

'We decided to post a video on YouTube because we felt it would more likely be seen by the people who attended this concert, who are in their teens and early 20s,' Hamilton police Detective Sergeant Jorge Lasso told AFP.

'I have children and they don't watch mainstream media, but they seem to be as informed as I am,' he said.

'We realised that if we want to target this demographic, we'd have to go to the web, where they get their information.'

YouTube's popularity comes on the heels of the proliferation of digital video cameras, particularly in handphones, and greater monitoring of public spaces to help avert crimes.

Street-racers in Winnipeg, Canada, were also charged with dangerous driving after police identified them in taped stunts posted online.

But this is the first case in which police have used YouTube as an 'investigative tool,' said Detective Lasso, who added that 'it won't be the last.'

This prediction has some lamenting further encroachment by law enforcement on the Internet's libertarian principles.

'In one sense, they're enlisting public help. But, when police use it as an investigative tool, there's a danger of a backlash if people believe they're patrolling the Net looking for evidence of crimes,' explained Mr Wade Deisman, a criminologist at the University of Ottawa.

Thousands of people have viewed the Hamilton police video and posted comments, ranging from plaudits to jeers over the new police tactic.

But nobody has yet to come forward to identify the men being sought.