Richard Dejuan Darity; Salramon Gonzalez; Alonso Cruz Osorio. These are three of the SBI's Most Wanted Fugitives, fugitives the bureau is relying on the public to help capture.
"Law enforcement has to rely on tips from the general public a great deal," says special agent Kevin West. "That's the bread and butter of where we get our information."
The State Bureau of Investigation collects its tips in its operations center in Raleigh. Many of the tips are the direct result of a poster which the Bureau has been producing for the past five years.
The poster goes to local law enforcement agencies in North Carolina, as well as every other state agencies, the FBI, DEA and Interpol. Other fugitives are featured on the SBI's Internet World Wide Web page, which was started three years ago.
The SBI's Web site contains detailed information about each case, as well as color pictures of the fugitives. It receives 3,000 to 4,000 hits a month. Although no capture has been directly traced to the page, agents say it has been useful.
"When you have 3 to 4,000 people a month looking at those pictures, it's very useful," West explains.
SBI officials say rewards are also a useful tool to get information on fugitives. While the SBI offers rewards for tips, it doesn't have a set dollar amount. Reward money varies depending on the case.
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