Poker Cards Distributed in Prisons To Seek Homicide Leads

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is hoping to bring fresh leads to old cases by creating two editions of decks of playing cards showing photographs of murder victims, information about the cases, and a telephone number to call to offer more information to the police.

Around 100,000 decks have been distributed to Florida’s 129 state prisons. A similar initiative was ran last year, and was quite successful – producing 66 tips, and leading to the solving of two murder cases that had been previously considered cold-cases. The tips also significantly advanced investigations into several other murders.

Currently there are more than 400 unsolved murder cases open in Florida, and authorities believe that the poker decks will be helpful in reducing that number. Authorities elsewhere, including Sand Diego, Odessa, Texas, and Kansas City, Mo., are also creating similar poker decks.

The decks were inspired by the ‘Most Wanted’ deck which was issued to U.S. troops, and featured pictures of Saddam Hussein and other fugitives. The production was funded through court fees, and a small fund of $7,000 remains to pay tipsters, although so far none of the informants have asked for a reward.

There is little possibility of the cards producing false leads - Florida investigator Tommy Ray explained that "There’s very little information on each case on the cards, so it’s hard for somebody to make up a credible story. Having the cards in prison is like interviewing thousands of inmates on 104 homicides. It would take years to do that."