Show puts spin on stopping crime

[dynamic_one]

By Sharon Coolidge, USA TODAY

CINCINNATI — When Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory urged residents to help capture the area's 50 most-wanted criminals, longtime TV crime reporter Deborah Dixon wasted no time on fancy computer graphics or high-tech gadgets.
The WKRC reporter tracked down mug shots of fugitives in the viewing area, taped them to a wheel the station rented at a party shop, and the "Wheel of Justice" was born.
The 6 a.m. Wednesday segment is so popular it has attracted the eye of at least one of the fugitives on the wheel. Hamilton County, Ohio, officers said Lonnie Chenault told them last week as they arrested him he had watched the wheel spin.
Chenault, 43, a convicted sex offender wanted for failing to register with the sheriff's office, was on the wheel and became one of two people arrested recently thanks to viewers' help. Those arrests brought the total arrested to 19 after 17 spins in as many weeks.
"It's CrimeStoppers, game-show style," said Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Cpl. Nick Schibi, who spun the wheel recently with partner Dennis Brogan. They've made four of the arrests themselves.
Mug shots of the fugitives — mostly sex offenders and drug dealers — are placed on the wheel, and a $500 reward is offered for information that leads to the arrest of the person where the wheel clicker stops. Anonymity is offered for tipsters.
Three fugitives turned themselves in after simply hearing their mugs had appeared on the wheel. Others never had the clicker stop on their name, but a camera pan by their mug shots was enough to bring a tip in. That's what happened with Chenault.
Dixon greets viewers each Wednesday with, "Good morning, wheel watchers," and then catches viewers up on arrests and new information that came in since the most recent segment. Dixon also talks about fugitives still on the run.
Good Morning Cincinnati, the program that airs the "Wheel of Justice" segment, reaches 45,000 viewers, and the featured fugitive appears all week on the station's newscasts.
Producer Cara Mia Brooke's favorite capture came early on. A woman saw the wheel spin past Durrell Varner's mug shot, who was wanted on homicide and felonious assault charges, and then saw him on a bus.
Her tip led to the capture of Varner, 20, on Feb. 20. He remains jailed pending trial.
"What Channel 12 has done is great," Mallory said. "They figured out a way to capture viewers' attention and allowed that viewer to become a participant in fighting crime."
The county's public defender, Lou Strigari, doesn't like the show but says it's legal and clever.
"I see this as an extension of the Old West, where wanted pictures were tacked up," Strigari said.
There has been an $8,000 payout so far, and there's plenty more cash where that came from. A different company or group puts up the $500 each week. Companies such as Federated Department Stores have pitched in and so have family-owned businesses. Students at a Kentucky middle school collected spare change to put up $500 and give their school's resource officer a chance to spin the wheel.
Dixon, who has been covering crime for the station for 32 years, is surprised at the segment's popularity.
"It's not cool. It's not hip. It's not a ratings grabber. It was just a way to get people to look up," he said.
A handful of CrimeStoppers segments across the country use a similar approach, but none exactly like Cincinnati's, said Richard Carter, executive director of CrimeStoppers International.
"It's something that gets a lot of attention," Carter said.
Dixon's "Wheel of Justice" follows in the footsteps of shows such as America's Most Wanted and Oprah's quest to catch sex offenders, said Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University in New York.
"With this wheel, justice becomes participatory," Thompson said. "If you can be part of what's done to help catch someone, it's almost like you're part of the program."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-08-crime-show_x.htm

[Woodmonkey]

What a great idea!

[conlor]

Whatever works! People probably don't know they're neighbor or co-worker is wanted.