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U.K. police seek phone footage

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
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Leslie Katz

London police are urging those who were near the scene of last week's deadly blasts to immediately send in any footage they may have captured on their cell phones, according to CNN and other sources.

The city's police force said on its Web site on Sunday that police believe such images could contain vital information and provide a crucial piece of the "investigative jigsaw" in a "painstaking and complex inquiry" into the bombings of three subway trains and a double-decker bus.

Police are asking bystanders to forward photos and video footage to images@met.police.uk.

With more and more mobile phones sporting video capability, bystanders can immediately record images of events in their midst. When the Dec. 26 tsunami hit nations bordering the Indian Ocean, amateur videos helped show the impact of the waves and were widely shown by news outlets.

Immediately following the July 7 London attacks, which killed at least 52 people and injured hundreds, many news networks appealed to viewers to send in video they had taken, and amateur photos were widely broadcast.