A Tip Can Pay Big Dividends

Eugene Baldwin shared some interesting background information on Crime Stoppers at last week's meeting.

Crime Stoppers has been around since the 1960's, starting in Albuquerque, New Mexico by a police detective who was trying to solve a violent gas station robbery.  The police detective did a renactment of the crime on TV and within 1 hour he was given a tip which led to the identification of the suspect.  Since the 1960's Crime Stoppers has grown to 1,186 members worldwide, including Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States.

The involvement of the community (who provide the tips), media (who produce and show the renactments) and law enforcement work together to make Crime Stoppers work.  Each city that has a Crime Stoppers organization has a board of non law enforcement people who generate ways to raise monies for the rewards.  Each time someone calls in with a tip, that person is given a number (while maintaining the person's anonymity) by a Coordinator (whom the local police department provides).  The person who provides the tip that leads to the arrest of the suspect receives the reward (which typically ranges from $50.00 - $1,000).

Crime Stopper organizations work very closely with Homeland Security and the FBI.  One of the greatest challenges that the organization faces today is that there is a prevailing attitude to "not snitch", therefore hampering the influx of tips.