Police Now Scouring Yelp to Potentially Find Crime Suspect

Health departments in New York City have been using review site Yelp to track potential foodborne illness outbreaks, and now, Yelp has another unlikely government user: the New York City Police Department. The NY Post reports detectives are currently scouring Yelp for "negative restaurant reviews" that might help identify potential suspects in a recent smoke-bombing incident targeting West Village restaurant Bar Pitti. A source tells the NYP officers are "looking for stuff like, 'This place sucks and I'm going to blow this f–king place up.' They're looking for particularly nasty reviews."

The most recent one-star Yelp review was left two days ago — after the smoke bomb incident — but it ironically calls out the fire department: "Please if you had a bad experience here, report them to the NYFD because it is for sure a fire trap." No suspects have been named, and no one was seriously hurt in the smoke bombing, though patrons reported suffering "burning eyes."