Through a new weekly posting of six suspects with outstanding warrants, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office is hoping to solve more crimes and promote community engagement.
LCSO announced Wednesday a new weekly bulletin, which will feature six suspects with outstanding warrants and charges each week posted to the agency’s Facebook page.
Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said he came up with the idea for the Warrant Wednesday board because of a backlog of hundreds of warrants the department has collected over the years.
The hope going forward is that these posts will bring forward information to help in solving cases and making arrests, he said.
“Basically what we’re doing is letting the community know that we’re looking for these people and that if they have information for where they might be located, they can provide information to us,” Hawkins said. “… When we have a crime that happens in the community, it’s hard to get information from the community. Nobody wants to talk to us, so hopefully this will help kind of build a bridge and get people to where they’ll open up and talk to us more.”
Hawkins said any person who provides a tip that helps solve a crime could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.
This week’s highlighted suspects include Michael Thornell, 44, wanted for possession of meth; Dennis Degraffeneid, 75, wanted for burglary of an automobile; Julisa Brown, 31, wanted for possession of meth; Joshua Lane Akers, 39, wanted for possession of meth; Ashley Hines, 30, wanted for possession of meth; and Shancy Edinburgh, 50, wanted for false pretense.
Hawkins said the post Wednesday morning had already prompted several phone calls from community members with information on the whereabouts of some of the suspects and even calls from suspects looking to turn themselves in.
“A lot of times, the people that we are looking for will see themselves wanted, and they’ll come and turn themselves in,” Hawkins said.
Noah Chism, LCSO public information officer, said the department has been attempting to increase its social media presence through postings like this and the office’s Traffic Tip Tuesday posts to better engage with the community.
“The ultimate goal is to build camaraderie with the community,” Chism said. “We have a lot of great relationships with people in the community, all throughout the county, and we’re grateful for those. And we want to add to that total. … And one of the ways we think we can do that in (the) modern day is through social media, and by being transparent on social media, by telling people exactly what’s going on.”
Hawkins said the goal of these boards is not to have community members attempting to make arrests themselves but to help provide information to deputies in finding these suspects.
Anyone who has information regarding the whereabouts of anyone featured in the Warrant Wednesday posts is encouraged to contact LCSO at (662) 328-6788 or Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at (800) 530-7151 or submit an anonymous tip using the P3Tips App.
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