Fugitive Webpage Puts Extra Eyes on Westchase Streets

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has a new tool to use in its battle against crime.

While the concept isn’t necessarily new, the design of the county’s new Find-a-Fugitive webpage is, said Cristal Bermudez Nunez, spokeswoman for the agency. The old Cell Block Shake Down webpage was taken down in favor of a cleaner, less graphics-heavy design that lets the sheriff’s office post the county’s Top 10 wanted fugitives and its Top 5 wanted “deadbeat parents” and “dangerous drivers.”

Older cases are featured along with new ones on the site because it’s important to the sheriff’s office that people know “we haven’t forgotten about them,” Nunez said.

“You may very well know these people,” she added.

Find-a-Fugitive’s look is not only easier on the eyes, it’s also simpler for the sheriff’s office to update to make sure a new fugitive is posted as soon as arrests are made on featured cases.

“What we want to do is get the suspects and be able to update them as quickly as we can,” Nunez said.

 How Westchase Residents Can Help

The sheriff’s office hopes area residents will check out the page and keep an eye out for the people featured on it. If a resident does recognize a fugitive, the agency asks that residents:

• Call 911
• Call the sheriff’s office at 813-247-8200
• Email an anonymous tip
• Call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS or text "CSTB plus your tip'' to 274637

“It certainly helps us having another set of eyes and ears on the streets,” Nunez said. “Sometimes you only hear about people like our most wanted, but you don’t hear about the Top 5 deadbeat parents or the Top 5 dangerous drivers.”

See Also:

Hillsborough’s 10 Most Wanted: How Westchase Can Help Catch Them

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