The
FBI is rolling out 150 digital billboards in twenty cities across the
country. The billboards will let the FBI highlight those people it is looking
for the most: violent criminals, kidnap victims, missing kids, bank robbers,
even terrorists, the FBI said in a release. And the billboards will be able to
be updated largely in real-time - right after a crime is committed, a child is
taken, or an attack is launched. The FBI said it tested its first billboard in
the Philadelphia area in September, with crystal-clear images of 11 of its most
violent fugitives on eight billboards and a 24-hour hotline for the public to
call. The billboards paid quick public safety dividends. In October, two
fugitives were captured as a direct result of the publicity, the FBI said.
Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami will be among those cities provided
with the new billboards, along with Milwaukee and Philadelphia.The FBI said
Atlanta, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Memphis and Minneapolis will also get the
billboards, as will Akron, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; El Paso,
Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Newark, N.J.; Wichita, Kan.; and the Florida cities of
Tampa and Orlando. While this seems pretty cool, it makes you wonder how long it
will take for someone to hack one or worse, shoot at it like so many signs you
see on the roadside already.