Latest Nightmare for Folks with Warrants: Facecrook

CREST HAVEN – Have an active warrant held by the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office? Now there is a new reason to dislike social media. It’s known as Facecrook.
Cape May County Sheriff Gary Schaffer unveiled the latest addition to the department’s website after months of testing. He hopes that, as county residents latch onto the habit of looking for folks they know, who might live on their street, who may have an active warrant, they might be moved to contact the warrants unit.
The idea is simple, Schaffer said, and piggybacks with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office to post photographs and last-known address of wanted individuals, or maybe one living next door.
Making crime-fighting technology readily available to residents could uncover wanted people. Access is as easy as logging onto www.cmcsheriff.net and looking down the left side of the first page for Facecrook. Click on that, and in a moment, images of some 346 individuals, wanted by the Sheriff’s Department, will appear.
On July 9, Schaffer demonstrated the Facecrook site for the Herald. Schaffer noted that the site is searchable by hometown, street, and state.
The driving force, Schaffer said, is to let the public know who is or was living on the street where they live. They might recognize a face, and will be able to anonymously call or text the Sheriff’s Department as to the location of a wanted person.
Schaffer noted that, in June, because of the introduction of a cellphone app his department got 51 tips on the location of criminals or illegal activity. He hopes that as knowledge of that application becomes ever wider known, those tips would multiply.
The website can search all active warrants currently held in the Sheriff’s Office. It is updated daily, he said.
Schaffer said Facecrook was designed by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department, with the goal of leveraging technology against decreased manpower and budget constraints.
Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino offered assistance to any sheriff’s agency in the state that wanted to partner with him in that endeavor. Thus far, Cape May County has been the only taker.
“With a small investment for software development and the assistance of Sheriff Sgt. Jeff Cohen and (county) MIS (Management Information Services) employee Matt Poehm along with members of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, we were able to piggyback on their system at a nominal cost,” said Schaffer. He lauded his Bergen peer for that department’s assistance.
Facecrook is linked to the County Sheriff’s Office Picture Link File and a records management system, known as ANITA. Information is constantly updated and provided in real time twice daily. Warrants can be searched by name, last-known address or town.
Among features on the web page is a Google map and “pin-mapping” that makes it possible to see an aerial image of the wanted person’s last known address. All information is in the public domain, Schaffer stressed; that includes wanted persons’ images and last-known addresses. Previously, Schaffer stated, there was no “pin-mapping” system for tracking Cape May County’s wanted individuals or even a public system to view them.
This application with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office is, according to Schaffer, the first of its kind in the Garden State.
Schaffer cited Facecrook as a “force multiplier” for law enforcement by “drastically increasing” sets of eyes on the street to look for wanted persons.
He noted that Facecrook will enable citizens to “get off the sidelines and into the law enforcement world in a safe manner.”
Often, those with warrants reside in a community, yet neighbors are unaware that the person may be wanted by law enforcement.
If a person spots someone they know on the site, they can use the Sheriff’s Office’s TIP411 program to anonymously inform law enforcement, Schaffer said.
Once again, he recited his long-held belief that “The criminal has no greater enemy than the citizen and law enforcement working together.” Schaffer also noted the Cape May County Herald’s long-standing public service of displaying, on its website and in print, persons wanted by Cape May County law enforcement, both Prosecutor’s Office and Sheriff’s Department. He noted that program has resulted in over 85 persons being brought to justice through citizen interaction with his department.
He warned that citizens should exercise caution and not approach any wanted individual, but should contact the Sheriff’s Identification Bureau and warrants team at 463-6463 during normal business hours, and 675-1207 after hours.
Information can also be forward by using the anonymous web tip system or anonymously texting a tip to TIP411 (847411) program to start a message field with the department or by downloading the Anonymous Tip App. All can be found on the website: www.cmcsheriff.net.