JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A new crime-fighting tool in Jacksonville is solving crimes all over the city and you can be a part of helping with it.
JSO Unsolved Crimes web page shows images of hundreds of people suspected of non-violent crimes.
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JSO said the program has resulted in well over 100 arrests.
Louise Ford, 92, was devastated Monday morning when she learned someone broke into her car.
“It was daylight and all the guts were out of my car. It’s a mess,” Ford said.
The longtime Northwest Jacksonville resident is now dealing with insurance and stress after someone started gutting parts around her steering wheel.
“I’m 92 years old. I shouldn’t be going through this and I been here ever since ‘69, this is the first time anything ever happened to me,” she said.
This is the type of crime JSO’s Unsolved Crimes page is designed to stop.
There are pages and pages of surveillance photos that JSO has collected of people suspected of everything from petit theft to credit card fraud and stealing cars.
“Here at police HQ, one reason they say making these smaller arrests are important is because many times the people they take into custody wind up in jail for other much bigger crimes,” said Alan Parker, JSO Chief of Investigations. “A lot of these people are also involved in other violent crimes.”
Parker said almost 25% of the cases posted have been solved because the public recognizes a suspect.
“The community has a chance to go on, look at these photos, see if they can identify the people. So it goes back, the leads come in, the PIO’s move it to the detective and that gives them more to follow up,” Parker said.
Since the page was launched last year, 231 tips have come into JSO and 124 of those have led to an arrest in cases like the ones that affect Ms. Ford.
Ford said the crime scared her because she is all by herself.
“And if they’re doing this now to the car, what are they going to do next?” Ford said.
JSO said if you’re worried about someone knowing you reported the tip you can use Crimestoppers anonymously at 1-866-845-TIPS. Police will never know you reported the tip.