Billboards can be helpful advertising tools, considering the potential audience scope, and are commonly used to advertise everything from car dealerships to radio stations and new television shows. And now, as any Dallas family violence attorney knows, they are being used for a new role: catching domestic abusers.
The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office is putting up billboards featuring wanted posters of the most wanted domestic violence suspects. The DA said that this would allow the office to “cast a broader net” in order to catch suspects, and cited the shockingly large number of unsolved domestic violence cases as the catalyst for this new use of billboards.
Domestic violence affects many families every day, and according to the U.S. Surgeon General, it is one of the top health concerns in this country. Domestic violence can take many forms, and affect many individuals-not just women. Emotional abuse, economic abuse and psychological abuse all fall under the definition of domestic abuse, though some people may not realize it. Campaigns such as those initiated by Dallas authorities can help victims and close friends and family become aware of the abuse and begin to take steps to stop it. The wanted billboards may also help bring some relief to the victims’ families.
There are approximately 12 billboards featuring the wanted suspects throughout the Dallas area, and there will be a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the wanted suspects. The list of wanted suspects, along with mugshots, is also available on the DA’s website. According to authorities, the DA’s office plans to add additional billboards as well.
Source: KeraNews.org, “A Billboard Campaign To Track Down Domestic Violence Suspects,” Lauren Silverman, March 28, 2013