Sheriff's Office Puts Data On Fugitives Online
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Basic information on more than 44,000 fugitives-–wanted for everything from murder to writing bad checks-–will now be available to the public on the Cook County Sheriff's website.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart hopes the information will lead to anonymous tips to help take violent fugitives and other wanted people off the street, a release from the Cook County Sheriff's office said.
Information available to the public will be updated weekly and include the same basic facts, such as a name or address, that fugitive investigators use to begin a search for a wanted person, the release said.
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"People will check by their own existing zip code and they might have a name pop up of someone that they know," said Dart. "If it's a person they don't like, I have a feeling a phone call is coming to me."
Of the roughly 44,000 fugitive warrants available online, sheriff's office staff have been able to develop maps showing the last known address for about 26,000, according to the release. Other warrants contain incomplete address data or note if the subject's last known address wasn't known when the warrant was issued.
Dart expects that information to be investigated and updated at a pace of about 3,000 warrants a month -- meaning by next spring, all fugitive warrants will be updated and, when addresses are known, able to be mapped, the release said.
Information about wanted subjects can be anonymously provided to investigators by calling (708) 865-4902 or emailing fugitive.warrants@cookcountyil.gov.
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