Officials hope cards will help catch criminals

Local police agencies are starting a new game when it comes to solving some of their most prolific cases. And they’re hoping jail inmates will play along.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers announced today they are teaming up with local law enforcement on a new way to solve murders and missing persons cases, with the unveiling of a new deck of cards, featuring 52 of those cases.

The standard playing cards, which carry a photograph and factual information about either a murder or a missing person's case, will be distributed to the Charlotte and possibly Collier county jails, where officials hope inmates will recognize certain cases and alert them to any details they know.

The program cost Crime Stoppers about $9,000 for 5,000 sets of cards, a cost that would pay for itself if just one of the cases is solved, said Larry Long, public information officer for the FDLE.

"If we can solve just one case, then this project will be well worth it," Long said.

The cards are similar to those Iraqi-themed sets distributed to U.S. soldiers during the war. The idea to distribute playing cards featuring cold cases came from the Lakeland area, Long said. Polk County Crime Stoppers started a similar initiative last summer, and have already solved a 2004 murder, after an inmate at the jail said he recognized the name of a victim as someone a friend of his claimed to have murdered.

Participating departments include the Cape Coral Police Department, Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Collier County Sheriff's Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Fort Myers Police Department, Naples Police Department and the Punta Gorda Police Department.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office -- Southwest Florida's largest department -- is the one missing agency. LCSO Chief Charles Ferrante said his department is planning to launch its own cold case initiative in October.