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Policy Review, Mar/Apr 1997 by Laporte, Suzanne B

When a wheelchair-bound neighbor was beaten and another friend was raped and robbed in the space of two weeks, Ken Donovan was horrified. Feeling that ordinary citizens could do more to protect their own communities, Donovan and his wife, Caroline, decided to start an anti-crime newspaper in their hometown of Tampa Bay, Florida. Once a month since 1992, the Bay Area Crusader has published the mug shots of 50 to 70 suspects and bail-jumpers wanted on arrest warrants, along with official phone numbers for calling in tips. The results have surprised everyone: In four years, 738 fugitives whose photos appeared in the Crusader have been caught-a success rate of one in three.

Not long ago, deputizing citizens in the fight against crime meant little more than hanging "Wanted" posters up in the local post office. Then in 1982, the television show America's Most Wanted popularized the idea that ordinary citizens could do more to supplement the efforts of police. Now, as crime remains at high and worrisome levels, desktop publishing and the Internet make it easier for citizens such as Ken Donovan to build on this idea.

The Power of the Press

When he learned back in 1992 that his friends had been assaulted, Donovan was merely angry. When he learned that both assailants had outstanding arrest warrants at the time they committed their crimes, he became outraged. "I was upset at the arrogance of criminals walking among us because no one knew who they were," says Donovan. "If they are going to commit the crimes, we are going to let people know who they are."

Rita Harding and her family will forever be indebted to Donovan for doing just that. Last September, an intruder broke into the home of Harding's brother Richard Valdez and tried to rape his wife. When Valdez resisted, both he and his wife were shot. Richard Valdez didn't survive.

"This is a tragedy that has broken every one of our hearts," says Harding. "This guy being caught won't bring my brother back, but at least we'll get the feeling that someone has to pay for it."

Police identified a suspect from fingerprints at the scene. "When my brother was murdered, Ken got a picture of the person out quickly so we could get flyers out," explains Harding. "We sent flyers of the Crusader north to places he might go-where his family was [as well as] an old girlfriend." After hearing that the suspect may have headed toward New Jersey, the family sent copies of the Crusader to their relatives in that area and to truck stops along the route. Valdez's alleged assailant was apprehended in New Jersey a month after the attack.

Donovan began with a belief that many people who encounter the fugitives pictured in the Crusader-from neighbors to convenience-store clerks-would be willing to do the right thing. He was right. Soon after he began publishing, a tip based on the first issue of the Crusader led to the arrest of a drug dealer. The informant told the police not only where the fugitive was living, but also what time she would be there with her supplier. As a result, the police captured both of them, seizing their drugs and enough cash, says Donovan, to bankrupt the whole drug ring.

One of the hardest parts of Donovan's job is deciding which photos to run each month. "I give murderers, child molesters, and rapists top priority," says Donovan, "but I always have this fear in my heart that the difference between a burglar and a rapist is that no one was home."

The Donovans' tabloid also publishes photos of missing children; so far 136 children, or one in four, have been found. Last July, for the benefit of unwary neighbors, the newspaper printed a special feature with the names and addresses of 344 Florida residents designated as "sexual predators" by the state Department of Law Enforcement.

The Donovans distribute 25,000 copies of the Crusader each month to convenience stores, restaurants, nightclubs, and police departments. Neither of them had any publishing experience before the Crusader, but it seemed clear that the newspaper format best suited their vision. A newspaper, after all, can be saved and passed along to other people.

Although wary at first, law-enforcement agencies in the Tampa area now fully support the Donovans' efforts. Steve Cole, the public-information coordinator for Tampa's police department, says the newspaper is "law-enforcement-friendly." "If we have somebody who is wanted, unless he is a serial killer or Jack the Ripper, the local media will put the picture up when they get around to it," explains Cole. "Ken's paper is geared more toward the ordinary, everyday criminal. We've become complacent about the ordinary, everyday criminal because we feel we can't do anything. But people pick up the Crusader and can do something."

The Donovans' idea has mushroomed in just four years. Within a year of their first issue, someone in another city contacted Donovan about starting a sister paper. Soon came another call, and another. Newspapers modeled after the original Crusader have started up in 58 communities in 25 states and Canada, including 30 in the last year.