Success behind Brevard County Sheriff's Office crime trend videos

Sheriff Wayne Ivey speaks with News 6

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is getting crime results by producing videos on crime trends, which receive thousands of hits on the county’s Facebook page.

The “Wheel of Fugitives” popularity has spread to major networks and after News 6 first report on it several weeks ago.

The Sheriff’s Office Facebook page has more likes than any others sheriff’s office in Central Florida combined and balances funny, strange, clever and silly videos that are shared thousands of times.

The video concepts are a collaboration between the sheriff, team members, but mostly from tips or leads.

In one of the sheriff's most popular videos, he's in his SUV facing off against a couple of thieves. This is where the sheriff got the idea.

"You ripped it from a commercial?" News 6 reporter Erik von Ancken said.

“We did, a Matthew McConaughey commercial, unfortunately, Matthew McConaughey couldn't star in it, so I had to do it,” Sheriff Wayne Ivey told von Ancken.

That video alone received 98,000 views on Facebook.

There’s another video with goats and a Grinch resulting in the Grinch getting shocked by a Taser. That video received 66,000 views.

The sheriff using also had a famous Central Florida face appear in another video, the appliance salesman from Appliance Direct.

"With Sam Pak. He lives here in our community, I called him up and said I have an idea for a video, and he said, 'OK, when do you want me to come down?'" Ivey said.

Ivey said Facebook has given the department tremendous outreach and access to reach a mass volume of people.

A key to the success is tracking the number of the department’s Facebook page that has more than 84,000 likes.

Ivey told News 6 that in six days the page reached 115,000 people.

So how does producing a video like this work?

An employee for the department edits the videos, and every person that stars in the video are employees, relatives or friends.

Editing on equipment paid for with drug forfeiture money and they taught themselves to edit.

"It was a lot of weekends, watching tutorials on YouTube," Sheryl Sink, a video editor, said.

"Does anyone ever tell you this is a little silly?” von Ancken asked Sink.

“No, I can't say that we've ever had that. Most people tell us they love what we're doing,” Sink said.

The videos are produced as soon as a crime trends pop up and is made immediately.

Ivey said crime in Brevard County is down 16 percent since he took over four years ago. The cost of making and producing videos is minimal since he is using only employees.


About the Author:

Erik von Ancken anchors and reports for News 6 and is a two-time Emmy award-winning journalist in the prestigious and coveted "On-Camera Talent" categories for both anchoring and reporting.

Recommended Videos