Toronto police have turned to a popular website to help them find a missing teenage girl in what is a first for the force and a growing trend in law enforcement.

Investigators have put a likeness of Eva Ho, created by a sculptor, into a Crime Stoppers video that has been posted on the YouTube.com website. Police hope the 17-year-old's image will get global exposure on the Internet.

"You have a way to ... hit people around the world very instantaneously," P.C. Scott Mills said Wednesday.

They have a good reason to go global with their probe into her disappearance. Leads being followed by investigators suggest that Ho may be in Hong Kong. For that reason, police are trying to targeting teenagers in Asia with their YouTube video.

"There is an underlying group that are out there that utilize this YouTube and other sites like it and those are the one we're trying to get to that may not be mainstream," Supt. Ruth White.

It is not the first time Canadian investigators have turned to YouTube for help.

In December of last year Hamilton police posted surveillance video of two men attending a hip-hop concert in the city. They were hoping to gain clues in the investigation of a stabbing death.

The short video was viewed online more than 30,000 times.

Within about two weeks of the video appearing on YouTube, a 24-year-old suspect turned himself in to police.

The investigation technique was considered to be a first in Canadian policing history.

After that experience, Hamilton's major crime investigators were slated to attend the Canadian Police College in Ottawa to take a course in Internet investigation techniques.

Internet investigation is a trend that is expected to continue. Police believe the potential is great as they try to harness the World Wide Web to solve local crimes.

Toronto police and Crime Stoppers say their video can be seen on YouTube by searching "1800222TIPS."

Investigators ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (416) 222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.222tips.com.

With a report from CTV's Jim Junkin