BILLINGS — The Billings Police Crime Prevention Center page on Facebook is helping officers locate suspects involved in smaller crimes like theft.
The page has become a hot spot, where police will post a surveillance picture or video of the suspect and ask if the public recognizes the individual.
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Officer Tony Nicols is in charge of the page, and said it's making a significant difference.
"It's kind of case by case," Nicols said. "We solved about 65 percent of these things that we post, so the general public is really helpful with this stuff."
Billings resident Ryan Koek is hoping to be among the fortunate ones after his storage unit at Midtown Storage was broken into a couple of weeks ago. Koek recently moved from Arizona and was keeping his belongings in the unit while searching for a place to live.
"Everything I didn’t sell in Arizona is in my storage unit. My whole life is in there," Koek said. "I got a phone call when I was at work a couple of weeks ago, and let me know that my storage unit along with several others was broken into."
Koek said he was immediately worried about his belongings, but most important to him were his father's ashes. Unfortunately, the suspects took them in the incident among other high value items.
"They tossed just about everything in there looking for what they could find," Koek said. "I mean the stuff is all replaceable. That’s just material possessions, you know I can deal with that. Not having my dad’s ashes, which is one of the only things I have left of him really is the hardest part."
Koek is maintaining hope, with Nicols posting pictures of the suspects involved in his case on the page earlier this week.
"That just gives us a little bit better of a chance to possibly catch who did it and maybe get some of those things returned," Koek said.
Nicols said that while there aren't guarantees, the added exposure can be helpful.
"It’s great that people are sharing it," Nichols said. "That’s awesome because it gets out to more people. Thousands of more people."
Among those people interacting with the page are Sandy Oium, who said she's happy to help.
"The first time I ever saw it I was like, ‘What a great idea,’" Oium said. "I like that page and I hope they keep using it."
Oium said she hasn't known anyone on the posts yet, but that she frequently shares the posts in hopes of being helpful.
"If we as citizens want to make our city better, we need to help the people that are trying to keep us safe," Oium said. "The more we can put on Facebook and help the police department I’m all about it."
It's an effort appreciated by Koek, who is clinging to hope that his stuff is returned.
"All I can do is hope," Koek said. "I know it's not likely, but you never know."
