Fathers' group: Child-support warrants on Internet 'misguided'

By HEATHER SCOFIELD
Staff Writer

BUNNELL -- At least one national organization that champions the rights of fathers and children says there may be a down side to a new feature on the Flagler County Sheriff's Office Web site.

The agency just launched a new online database at www.myfcso.us that allows anyone to search by name or just view a list of those wanted by the Sheriff's Office. There are already more than 600 names.

The new "warrants" feature sounds like a good thing to some. But one national organization says if the new database is left as is, it could hurt children.

Why? Because parents who fail to pay child support could find their names featured on the list.

"It's a misguided activity on the part of law enforcement," said Mike McCormick of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children.

But the Sheriff's Office is not "picking and choosing" which warrants go online, spokeswoman Debra Johnson said. All warrants issued in Flagler County are going into the database. And child-support warrants are not featured on the separate portion of the Web site, which highlights several warrants weekly and includes photographs of the individuals wanted.

The Flagler Sheriff's Office appears to be the only law enforcement Web site in the area with a warrants database. Neither the Volusia County Sheriff's Office nor the Daytona Beach or DeLand police departments have a warrants database. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Web site has a database but child-support offenders aren't usually included, a spokeswoman said.

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