member profile
MEDIA BAKERY
Small nonprofit plays a big role
Catching
criminals
By Diane Stapp Williams
PAUL AND PEGGY SECAUR still recall what
inspired Paul in 1990 to start Fax Net 1, an
award-winning, nonprofit crime-prevention
organization in Phoenix.
“A building manager up the street from
the high-rise I was managing called to warn
us about ‘some guy who was swiping women’s
purses from tenants’ desks,’ ” says Paul. That
informal alert led to the purse snatcher’s
quick capture, and it got Paul to thinking: “I
wondered if faxing alerts to businesses could
help outrun other bad guys.”
He recruited Peggy to implement his
vision, and asked six local businesses to fax
alerts to one another when they learned of
criminal activity in the vicinity. Within three
weeks, “we caught a bank robber and a rapist,
broke up a counterfeiting ring and even
helped find a man with Alzheimer’s” who had
wandered from home, Paul says. “It was like
they walked into our net.”
Impressed with the success of the fledg-
ling fax alert service, the Phoenix Police
Department asked the Secaurs to partner
with law enforcement. Today, 21 years later,
Fax Net 1 serves as a crime information dis-
tribution system for about 40 local and state-
wide police department partners, plus federal
organizations such as the Secret Service, FBI
and Department of Homeland Security. Fax
Net 1 also partners with more than 40,000
businesses and community agencies—air-
ports, hotels, convenience stores, banks,
neighborhood block watch groups and more.
wait for a supervisor to check email, the alert
might not be seen in a timely fashion. And,
“faxes don’t have firewalls,” she adds.
Catching crooks
One million electronically faxed alerts
were sent in 2010, and law enforcement
authorities report an average of one criminal
caught every five to six days because of Fax
Net 1. “They help us put together pieces of a
puzzle, and to be better police officers,”
Phoenix Police Detective Mark Potts tells The
Connection. U.S. marshals have thanked Fax
Net 1 for its part in many arrests.
Four to five alerts go out daily to more than
1,000 Arizona pharmacies, including Costco’s.
Potts credits Fax Net 1 for the 2009 capture of
an armed robber who was demanding the
addictive painkiller Oxycontin from a dozen
pharmacies in Phoenix and surrounding cities.
And Peggy will never forget when Fax
Net 1 was notified about an 8-year-old child
abducted from a schoolyard in Las Vegas by a
man who was likely heading to California.
She contacted various businesses along the
criminal’s route, including bars. Later, it was
rewarding to hear, “Your fax just saved the life
of a little boy,” Peggy relates. The National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children
will be working closely with Fax Net 1 in the
near future, she adds.
Finding support
As a 501(c)( 3) nonprofit Arizona corporation, Fax Net 1 depends upon grants, donations
and volunteers. The program director, who
sends out the alerts, is the only paid employee.
Three volunteers handle information technology, database management and website management. “Our biggest challenge is keeping up
with advances in technology,” says Paul. “A big
change is that now Phoenix police can pull up
our alerts on their vehicles’ mobile computers.”
Much of Peggy’s time is spent researching
and writing grant proposals to continue funding Fax Net 1. “We do not charge anyone for
our service,” Peggy states. “Our mission is
crime prevention. We just want to bring the
bad guys to justice.” C
A former counselor, Diane Stapp Williams is
now a Phoenix-based freelance writer.
How it works
When Fax Net 1 receives emailed crime
alerts from law enforcement, the program
director electronically faxes a copy to all law
enforcement partners, then edits and electronically faxes selected alerts to specific
member businesses that may be in the path of
the criminal suspect.
However, Fax Net 1’s partners and members receive the alerts as paper faxes in most
cases. “We want them to get the paper faxes
because you cannot doctor a fax, and it is more
likely that the information will be seen much
faster than if emailed,” says Peggy. If a motel
front desk clerk or a pharmacy clerk had to
CONNIE T YLER
member profile
Paul and Peggy
Secaur started a
nonprofit crime-prevention service.
Name: Fax Net 1
Founders: Paul and Peggy Secaur
Number of employees: 1
Volunteers: 3 to 4
Contact at: faxnet1@faxnet1.org
(602) 534-8562 or (602) 320-3071
Website:
www.faxnet1.org
Member at: Paradise Valley, Arizona, Costco
Since: 1993
Comments on Costco: “We get most of our
office supplies, groceries for various events,
gas for our cars, and beautiful special picture
awards for Fax Net 1 ceremonies at the
Paradise Valley Costco. We love Costco!”
