Police to post riot photos

Detectives will need at least one week before they can release images of Sunday's riot suspects for the public to identify.

The photos and video clips will be used to aid the Seattle Police Department (SPD) in tracking down certain individuals suspected of committing crimes during the riot or those wanted for questioning, according to SPD spokesman Duane Fish.

"It takes time to go through these things, put it all together and then present it in a meaningful way for assistance and not just showing a bunch of images that don't make sense or showing individuals who aren't actually involved in any criminal activity," Fish said.

Detectives are still in the process of collecting video and still images of people involved in the riot. Only after they review witness statements, collect more statements from individuals and review tapes and photos from the riot will the images be posted on the department's Web site.

"At this point, we're looking at one to two weeks before they're able to get that information out in a ... very organized and strategic fashion," said Fish. "If it gets done sooner because they were able to get additional resources to assist them, then that is just a bonus."

Police used a similar technique to identify suspects in the Mardi Gras riots Downtown three years ago, Fish said.

The police department in East Lansing, Mich., also posted pictures on its Web site after students at Michigan State University started fires and tipped over vehicles. The riot there started after its basketball team lost to Duke University in the 1999 NCAA men's basketball tournament.

A week after the site went on line, someone hacked into it, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Because the public could send tips to police using the site, the hacker could have seen names of the informants and who they thought the people in the pictures were, the newspaper reported. It was not known last night whether the SPD will use the same system for receiving tips.