Butler County Sheriff Mike Slupe is using a phone application to stretch the long arm of the law.

County residents now can download a free MobilePatrol application onto Apple and Android devices to find out who is on the sheriff’s most wanted list and who is in the county prison.

“We were the first in Pennsylvania,” Slupe said about joining the MobilePatrol network.

People need to download the MobilePatrol application, then go to Pennsylvania and then go to PA-Butler. There people also can see the sheriff’s tips on the whereabouts of scofflaws trying to elude capture.

Inmates are shown under: Detention Center. Slupe credits prison Warden Rick Shaffer with making that function possible.

Shaffer said there’s no reason individuals such as victims of crime should not be able to verify whether a defendant is in the prison.

“I think people should have the right to know if someone is in jail,” he said.

Among the categories listed for Offenders are Warrants and Most Wanted.

Warrants list all the fugitives sought by Slupe’s deputies. Most Wanted shows photographs of the offenders who have been prioritized.

He said the main goal is to find people with outstanding warrants.

However, if people provide tips on new criminal activity, that information would be forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement agency.

Slupe urged people reporting illegal drug activity to call the district attorney tip line at 866-363-3784.

Victims of crimes are able to use the phone application to link to the notification system VINE, Victim Information and Notification Everyday.

VINE keeps a victim updated seven days a week about the status of the defendant in that case.

Slupe said the VINE service is free and participants remain anonymous.

Under Alerts, application users may enroll to receive notifications about missing children or other emergency situations in the county.

“The alerts would come in texts,” Slupe said.

The application also links to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children under NCMEC.

Some optional functions in the application are not used in Butler yet.

Child Support, which is under the court’s purview, is not available.

The Attorneys and Bail Bonds references would be accessible once people in those professions pay Appriss, the company that operates MobilePatrol, to be listed.

Slupe noted the application also is useful to other law enforcement agencies and constables.