In the past couple of years, we've seen some politicians trying to blame YouTube for encouraging crimes, under the odd rationale that kids are committing crimes just to show them off on YouTube. In fact, one politician even proposed a law that would make punishment worse for people who put video of the crime on YouTube. However, it would appear that the police have a rather different view: YouTube is a fantastic tool for catching dumb criminals who provide all the evidence needed against them, by posting it to YouTube. In fact, it sounds like some police departments are putting an increased presence on YouTube and other sites, searching for evidence of wrongdoing. This comes after quite a few stories of people incriminating themselves with YouTube videos. However, as the article notes, criminals may have much less incentive in England and Wales to post such incriminating evidence, as filming a crime and posting it to the internet will now be considered an "aggravating factor" in the case.

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