MAYBE IF IT WORKS IN IRAQ, IT CAN IN POLK COUNTY, EH!?

Remember during the search for Saddam Hussein and his cronies in Iraq, playing cards were distributed with their pictures in the hope that someone would recognize one or more of them and turn them in? That idea has now come to Polk County, Florida.

Polk County Crime Stoppers is funding the printing of 5,000 decks of cards which will be distributed mainly in the county's two jails in Bartow and Frostproof and will feature local fugitives and unsolved homicide cases. Others will be made available to the public. The hope is that an inmate will recognize a familiar face or an old murder case and help authorities toward solving it.

So what's the incentive into "ratting out" someone? Crime Stoppers says that possibly the cash rewards available may be incentive enough.

The idea came from a detention sergeant with the Polk County Sheriff's Office, and it is the first time in Central Florida this has been done. Jails in Metro Orlando distribute cards with the local Crime Stoppers phone number, but do not highlight specific cases or fugitives.