Celebrating 99 years of Clovis Rodeo and one year of Clovis Police's Facebook page. The department launched its social media sites last rodeo weekend. Since then it has used the tool to solve about a dozen cold case crimes and relay important information immediately to the public.
A simple post about a parade route one year ago was the first of many from police service officer Ty Woods.
"Actually I created it while we were working the rodeo parade," said Woods.
The idea came to him after hitting road blocks on investigations. He'd have surveillance video of a suspect, but no name to go with it.
"The cases were just suspended due to lack of investigation so I was really frustrated with that," said Woods.
Launching a Facebook page solved ten cases in 2012 alone, but it's not all about crime.
"I wanted to post crime tips, I wanted to post adoptions for pets, which is another division of the police department. I wanted to post positive things instead of just 'look for this criminal,'" said Woods.
With the rodeo back in action, related posts fill the page Friday as the police department gets ready for the parade Saturday morning. 84 officers and volunteers will keep folks safe.
"[They'll be] looking for any suspicious activity. Any time you have large crowds you never know if maybe somebody's going to steal something or make it a bad day for somebody else," said Janet Stoll-Lee, Clovis Police Department spokesperson.
Moving forward, Woods hopes to triple the number of "likes" and close dozens more investigations.
Saturday morning's rodeo parade in from 9:30-11:30 in Old Town Clovis.