A game camera is triggered by motion at 3 a.m.  A black Dodge pickup truck is photographed leaving a meth compound in Sequim.  The pic goes up on the Facebook page of Tweek Watch Olympic Peninsula where it is seen by over 2,500 people.

This truck and unidentified driver was caught leaving a major meth compound in Sequim at 3am on our game cam. If this truck is near your property they are likely on the prowl. The people living at the compound are involved in a major drug – theft syndicate in Clallam County! Beware!

Someone comments there are three identical trucks in Sequim.  Possibilities are narrowed down.  The truck is spotted at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles. It doesn’t take long to rule that one out.  Someone wants to know where the meth compound is located and the page administrator provides not only the intersection but a photo.   People weigh in.  They’ve seen the traffic and stolen property collected out there. But who owns this particular truck? Suggestions pour in, are  evaluated.  Finally, the community settled on the meth truck being regularly seen outside a particular tattoo stop.

Virtual vigilantes?  One commenter says “Call the cops…Starting vigilante sh#t could get you killed.”

The discussion rolls on, undeterred.

A “tweeker,” if you didn’t know, is a meth addict.  The term frequently encompasses heroin and other drug addicts, as it does in the case of this Facebook page.

We could not find out who runs Tweek Watch.  We were in communication with the administrator who initially agreed to answer questions but then the dialogue stopped.  We succeeded in locating people who know the identity of the administrator.  They say this person does not want to be publicly identified because of the potential for retaliation from users and dealers.

We understand.  Who would want to be outed for standing up to the crime associated with meth and heroin addiction on the Olympic Peninsula?  In one post the administrator stated that the tweekers had already found the site.  “Ban button wearing thin! Have a nice weekend was the response,” along with an expletive thrown at the tweekers who might be reading his post.

While readers of The Port Townsend Leader objected to naming arrestees in police reports, and the editor capitulated, the Tweek Watch community delights in posting photos and names of people they believe are engaged in criminal activity.  They post photos of RVs engaged in allegedly selling drugs on Port Angeles streets.  Someone posted having just seen a drug deal on Frost Road at the PUD gate. Photographs of persons accused of theft by a member of the community are posted, with full names.  Photos of recently stolen vehicles are posted with a request to speak up if they are seen. A Port Townsend man posts a photo with the message, “If you see this car in the hood, you are about to get robbed. PM me for details.”

Stash of hypodermic needles with location posted on Tweek Watch

We started watching this site months ago and have seen its following grow steadily.  What does law enforcement think?  We asked a Jefferson County deputy who hadn’t know about the site.  He thought it was a great idea and joined the page. Police are reading the comments.  They are part of the community.

Tweek Watch posted this on its “About” page:  “Meth and heroin thieves are victimizing too many good people on the Peninsula! It’s time to fight back! This page is to shed light on the tweeks.”

Not fearful of being sued, Tweek Watch also posts photos very clearly identifying homes and commercial properties as places where drugs are sold and used, or where tweekers reside and gather.  The administrator uses far saltier language to describe the locations and people there.

Some of the posts are followed with news that the wanted person had been arrested.  Police have raided some of the locations.  There’s no way of knowing if pressure from Tweek Watch motivated and informed police, or if information from police found its way to the site.

One thing is clear:  The Tweek Watch community knows quite a few of the miscreants and dodgy properties.  The anger about the situation is obvious, as is the determination to do precisely what the site set out to do:  fight back by dragging this activity and these people into the light.

This is not the only social media crime fighting effort.  In Seattle, the Next Door social media site has increasingly been used to share information about dangerous and criminal transients.  It has been reported to us that the Next Door network in Port Townsend is also engaging in rapid responses to drug crimes.

“When seconds count, the police are only minutes away,” the saying goes.  On-line crime fighting can bring the speed and sweep of the Internet to the battle.