Here’s Why the Maine State Police Are Giving Out Playing Cards

If you follow the Maine State Police on social media you know that they frequently make posts about unsolved crimes.  This is typically missing persons cases and unsolved murders.

Additionally, they occasionally send out press releases about unsolved crimes in order to get local media outlets to do stories about them.

Now, they are trying a new tactic to encourage people to provide information they know about these unsolved crimes.

According to a press release from the Maine Department of Public Safety's Shannon Moss, the Maine State Police are still working through 69 unsolved homicides and 38 long-term suspicious missing person cases. Some of these investigations stretch back generations.

The project came to life thanks to a grant from Season of Justice. They are a nonprofit that helps fund cold case work. After the grant came through, the Major Crimes Unit Unsolved team spent months reviewing cases from across the state. They worked with Priority Marketing in Fort Myers, Florida, to design and personalize every single card.

Each case was picked because investigators believe public help could make a difference. This first deck only scratches the surface of Maine’s unsolved cases, and more decks are already planned.

Once the cards are ready, they’ll be handed out inside correctional facilities through the Maine Department of Corrections. Other states have learned that inmates often hold pieces of information no one else has. Some know people. Some remember things. And sometimes, that’s what finally moves a case forward.

This is not the first time we have seen law enforcement or government agencies distribute playing cards in order to get people's help.  During the second Gulf War, the U.S. military handed out decks of playing cards that featured high-ranking officers of the Iraqi military.

Additionally, other law enforcement agencies have used this tactic in the past.  Over the last two decades, over a dozen states have made their own decks of cards.  The idea has helped solve cases in more than two dozen states, so there is real hope it can do the same here.