Virginia Paper Runs Police Ad Listing Nearly 4,000 Fugitives

By: Joe Strupp Newport News, Va. police have found a new way to track down suspected criminals on the lam -- put their names in the newspaper.

And it seems to be working.

On Monday, the Newport News Police Department took out a two-page ad in The Daily Press listing nearly 4,000 people with outstanding warrants, in some cases dating back more than 10 years. As of Tuesday morning, 64 people listed had been arrested and processed, with several of them surrendering after reading about themselves in the ad, according to police.

"We've had people turning themselves in and others who come in and say they are not wanted, but we check and they did not know it," said police spokesman Lou Thurston. "One man came in and found out he was wanted for failing to execute a will. He was processed and released."

The ad, which ran in the paper's A section on facing pages, listed 3,947 names, including some 1,000 suspects accused of felonies such as rape, robbery, and murder, according to Thurston. But some were less-severe, such as failing to complete community service.

Police Chief James Fox, who took over the department in August, came up with the idea, Thurston said. He said the department took out the ad, at a cost of about $6,000, to reduce a backlog of cases that has overwhelmed investigators and topped 6,000 just a few years ago.

"We had a lot of warrants on file, and this was a way to send a message," Fox told E&P. "It is the talk of the town."

In addition, police were concerned that many of the suspects were likely still committing crimes. A federal Safe Neighborhood Project grant is covering the cost of the ad, which listed only names, with no addresses, ages, or description of the offense. "The number of names took up the space we had," Thurston said.

Fred Penfield, Daily Press classified advertising manager, said police created the ad and it ran without changes. "The city just came to us," he said. "They utilized the Daily Press as a vehicle for their message."

As of late Monday, 185 calls had come into the department stemming from the advertisement, Thurston said, adding that a tally for Tuesday had not been compiled. "We've gotten a lot of tips and have been able to go out on a few of the cases," he said. "One man wanted for robbery was identified by someone who was living in his building, in another apartment."

At least two people with names identical to those listed responded to make sure police knew they were not wanted, including one man whose son -- named after him -- was listed. "He wanted us to know it was not him and he had no idea where the son was," Thurston said. In eight other cases, the warrants were cleared after officers determined the persons were dead or in jail on another matter.

The oldest warrants are from a 1992 homicide charging Jose Fidel Blanco with murder using a firearm, the paper said. Police believe he fled to his native El Salvador and that is why the warrants were never served.

Police said they began receiving phone calls with tips and surrender requests as early as 6 a.m. on Monday. The department reassigned several staffers to handle the phones through Wednesday, while others are stepping up efforts to check addresses of those listed in the ad.

"We were hoping for a good response, but anything [resulting in an arrest] would have been a success," Thurston said. "There are people we would not have found if we had not done this."

Thurston said a similar ad could be published again in the future, but likely with fewer names. "We're having good success," he said.