New online database lets anyone see who has outstanding warrants

New online database lets anyone see who has outstanding warrants
WBEZ/file
New online database lets anyone see who has outstanding warrants
WBEZ/file

New online database lets anyone see who has outstanding warrants

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A new online database lets people to see who has outstanding warrants in Cook County.

Sheriff Tom Dart said there are about 44,000 people in Cook County who have outstanding warrants. The new online database, he hopes, will help the office get some tips on the whereabouts of those people.

“This has a way of really flushing out the system, as well, and really doing a lot of very positive things because there’s nothing good with having this many warrants in the system,” Dart told reporters Friday.

Dart said about a third of the warrants outstanding are for traffic offenses and about 13,000 are for drug or theft charges.

The majority are not wanted for violent crimes, Dart said.

“There is a hope that there will be quite a few people who’ll go to this website just, frankly, to check, maybe, theirself (sic) out,” he said.

The sheriff said he’s putting together a 500 most wanted list for the website, as well.