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I was preparing to write a story for PMQ in April when I came across an interesting article. Being in the pizza industry, the first thing I noticed was the pizza ovens and boxes in the photo. I read on and found it very interesting that a pizza box could be used for things other than the standard “buy one large and get a small pizza free” promotions or advertisements for new DVD releases that you normally see. The article I saw focused on a lady named Cynthia Brown, executive director of the Butler County Child Enforcement Agency in California, who, while ordering pizza, came up with the idea of putting wanted posters for parents accused of failing to pay child support.
It dawned on me that lives could be saved by using a pizza box to either track down criminals or assist in the aid of locating a missing child, much like an ‘America’s Most Wanted’. If you pay attention to the amount of pizzas sold daily in the United States, including the boxes being left for trash outside the home or business, you can see just how effective a nationwide effort to catch criminals can be if pizza boxes were used in the effort. I myself look at boxes when I am driving by a home and see the tops of the boxes.
I would like to share some essential information with all. We think of a pizza box as a piece of cardboard or a marketing tool. After reading this article, you’ll agree with my thoughts that it really is more than a container to hold food or just a marketing piece…it can be a useful tool to help rid our country of some of the criminals walking the streets. By now, we’ve all heard the story of the guy from one of the boroughs in New York who severely beat an elderly woman for about $30. What if his face was plastered on every box in the New York area? How long would it take to bring this sorry, good-for-nothing to justice? When a child goes missing in your area, could it help if all the pizzerias there put that child’s face and information on their boxes?
As you can see, customers at some pizzerias in California are getting something extra with their pepperoni or Hawaiian pizzas: wanted posters for individuals evading their responsibility to pay child support. Most people dodging the law usually eat out or order fast food and like a cereal box, law-abiding citizens usually sit and read pizza boxes while they are eating. Law enforcements agencies across the country use a variety of methods to locate and collect payments regarding child support issues and catch wanted criminals. The amounts unpaid regarding child support issues are staggering as well as the number of wanted criminals. While doing things such as revoking drivers’ licenses, garnishing wages, has made progress the example of using pizza boxes for assistance is a helpful and remarkable tool to be used. Some companies have placed posters on their restaurant web sites to assist law enforcement agencies. Sometimes using post offices is just not enough. One arrest has already been made using wanted posters on pizza boxes, and this is just in a limited area in California. While it doesn’t seem like a lot right now, it still helps. What would happen if every pizzeria in the U.S. threw in a helping hand? If you would like to help, try contacting your local police departments, child service departments or other law enforcement agencies and see if they could provide you with wanted posters to put on the tops of your boxes. You just may help clean the streets of criminals in your area and make it a better place to live.