Politics Daily reports that the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted List” turns 60 this week. The birthday’s a good reminder that what we today might call civic engagement actually pre-dates the terminology, and that it comes in many different forms – a point convincingly made in the City Club of Seattle’s 2008 “Community Matters Campaign” final report. Here’s Politics Daily on citizen participation in catching federal fugitives:

Since it first appeared, the FBI said 463 of the 494 fugitives who made the list have been captured — with 152 of them nabbed as a result of help from citizens.

I guess I’d be remiss not to mention “America’s Most Wanted,” too. If the idea of helping apprehend a wanted felon warms your cockles you might want to peruse the Seattle FBI’s “Most Wanted” list, or that of the Washington State Patrol, or the City of Kent.

Still, it’s pretty rare to spot a felon on the run. There’s always Block Watch. Or posting to YouTube recurring disturbances related to crack cocaine sales and usage in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, drawing coverage from the Seattle Times.

Another way community engagement might boost crime-fighting would be the use of Web-based systems similar to FixMyStreet.com (in the U.K.). Similar tools could also enable reports in real time on mobile devices to a transparent, official law enforcement Web site about open air drug markets, prostitution and other crimes being committed in public view. This capability would be especially welcome in crime-riddled Seattle locations such as North Aurora Avenue, Belltown, Pioneer Square and Downtown. Confidential registration of “reporters” could be required to protect against false submissions. Response times and outcomes could then be tracked – again, transparently – on these special, two-way law enforcement sites. That would raise the bar on performance and accountability, something increasingly vital in a time of sharply limited public resources. And sharply limited police manpower.