Wednesday, July 25, 2007

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Can poker help solve crimes?

By Henrik Nilsson-Dahlbom

Law enforcement officials in Florida hope that playing cards can help them in their efforts to solve the toughest homicide and disappearance cases in the state.

Earlier this week the state launched a program to give inmates playing cards featuring 104 victims of unsolved crimes.

The Cold Case Playing Card Program in Florida is inspired by the decks of cards that were distributed to U.S. troops in Iraq, with pictures of the most wanted fugitives in the country. A total of 100,000 decks will be distributed in the prisons of Florida.

Two different decks have been produced, with unique information on each of the 104 cards. Every playing card contains a picture of the victim and facts about the unsolved crime. The total cost for printing and distributing the cards is $80,000.

Officials hope that the cards will help to get inmates to talk about the cases while playing a friendly game of canasta or poker. Inmates that provide information that helps to crack these cold cases have the chance to be put in better facilities or be offered different programs.

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