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Denton PD publishes most wanted list
Three of top-five criminals still at large
Matt Goodman
Issue date: 11/27/07 Section: NEWS
Denton Police have instituted a new way to notify the public of the city's most wanted criminals - by posting the list online. Police Chief Roy Minter hopes having the list online will help citizens identify criminals more easily.
"With today's technological advancements, people have mobile devices with them to access the Internet wherever they are," Minter said. "If you see someone that looks like someone you saw on the news, now people can go online to the most wanted page and let us know."
The list has been up for roughly three weeks, said Jim Bryan, spokesman for the Denton Police Department. Bryan is in charge of updating the list and corresponding with investigators for which criminals to place on it, he said.
"Our investigative section lets us know when we have people that we're looking for," Bryan said. "Normally it's going to be a serious or violent crime, or just someone that we need to find quickly."
Minter created the list to get aid from citizens in apprehending criminals and in order to get increased responses from the public, he said.
"I knew as a law enforcement agency that we had individuals out there that committed some serious crimes," Minter said. "We could use assistance from the citizens and the best way to do that is to get that information out."
Currently, the list has five individuals and two have been caught. Pedro Perez Blancas is wanted in connection with the murder of a 17-year-old female and is still at large. An unknown black male is listed for the robbery of a Denton Albertsons and 27-year-old Darren Genzel is charged with causing injury to a child. Stratton Vice Banks and Donte Lamont Peace have both been apprehended.
"It's very effective to get information from citizens pertaining to these individuals," Minter said. "We really just decided that we had to look at posting information to make it more accessible to the citizens."
Minter hopes the list will be updated weekly to further increase awareness with the public. There are rewards attached to certain criminals, he said.
"There are rewards for the capture of some of them through Crime Stoppers," Minter said. "But the big thing for us is making the information accessible to the community and in a format where it is accessible through mobile devices."
"With today's technological advancements, people have mobile devices with them to access the Internet wherever they are," Minter said. "If you see someone that looks like someone you saw on the news, now people can go online to the most wanted page and let us know."
The list has been up for roughly three weeks, said Jim Bryan, spokesman for the Denton Police Department. Bryan is in charge of updating the list and corresponding with investigators for which criminals to place on it, he said.
"Our investigative section lets us know when we have people that we're looking for," Bryan said. "Normally it's going to be a serious or violent crime, or just someone that we need to find quickly."
Minter created the list to get aid from citizens in apprehending criminals and in order to get increased responses from the public, he said.
"I knew as a law enforcement agency that we had individuals out there that committed some serious crimes," Minter said. "We could use assistance from the citizens and the best way to do that is to get that information out."
Currently, the list has five individuals and two have been caught. Pedro Perez Blancas is wanted in connection with the murder of a 17-year-old female and is still at large. An unknown black male is listed for the robbery of a Denton Albertsons and 27-year-old Darren Genzel is charged with causing injury to a child. Stratton Vice Banks and Donte Lamont Peace have both been apprehended.
"It's very effective to get information from citizens pertaining to these individuals," Minter said. "We really just decided that we had to look at posting information to make it more accessible to the citizens."
Minter hopes the list will be updated weekly to further increase awareness with the public. There are rewards attached to certain criminals, he said.
"There are rewards for the capture of some of them through Crime Stoppers," Minter said. "But the big thing for us is making the information accessible to the community and in a format where it is accessible through mobile devices."
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