Cook sheriff asks public’s help hunting fugitives

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is deputizing the public in an effort to track down nearly 45,000 fugitives.

Dart’s office unveiled a searchable database Friday that allows the public to look for anyone with an outstanding Cook County warrant. Users can search by names and by last known addresses.

The fugitives include those accused of felonies like murder and sexual assault, but also include men and women wanted for lesser crimes.

There are two links visitors to cookcountysheriff.com can use. One allows users to search for anyone with criminal warrants. The other allows users to search for anyone wanted on child support warrants.

About 1,000 people are listed in the child support warrant database, while another 44,000 are listed in the criminal warrants database.

Pictures are being uploaded to the criminal warrants pages, but many of the child support scofflaws have pictures attached to their profiles, officials from Dart’s office said.

“We’re always looking for new and better ways to interact with concerned citizens and to make it easier for them to help our officers,” Dart stated in a news release issued Friday. “Putting this information online empowers everyone to provide anonymous tips that will help us get violent people off the streets.”

The online database comes on the heels of an operation by the sheriff’s office that resulted in 80 men being arrested on child support warrants in June. Dart’s office said those fathers owed support to their children totaling $1.8 million. Following that dragnet, Dart sought additional help from the public to track down more parents owing child support, which resulted in the arrests of another 34 parents, who owed nearly $1 million.

Anonymous tips may be provided by calling (708) 865-4902 or emailing fugitive.warrants@cookcountyil.gov.