Crimestoppers Relies on Community Support

Central Crimestoppers of Alabama helps law enforcement out with arrests as they are able to talk to people with anonymous tips. They have several initiatives that provide incentives for people to call in with tips. They could always use the extra funding to do that.

215-STOP. It’s a familiar phone number that has helped to put people behind bars for over two decades.
Executive Director Tony Garrett says the tip line has worked very well over the years.

“About a week ago we had an individual find a AR-15 on a juvenile. I was able to give that person advice as far as what to do with the gun and how to get the gun turned into law enforcement. So they used 215-STOP in that way,” said Garrett.

Crimestoppers pays out $300 for tips on juveniles with guns.
The organization also pays out $300 on any anonymous tips that lead to an arrest.
And $500 for a gun or explosive found on school grounds.

Garrett says another big program is the lost and prevention program.

“This year has been a record year. We’ve made over 300 charges on shoplifters and people committing fraud in their stores. And when we make that type of arrest we are saving the community money because when a person goes in and steals from a store we have to pay those prices because the store is not going to go without,” said Garrett.

But Crimestoppers is also a non-profit organization and all the funding comes from the community.

“All our funds are donated. We are not a tax program. We are a 501c3 nonprofit. So it takes the community effort to keep us going. We are a community program so the majority of funds we bring in go back to initiatives like to gun buy back, the tip line for the schools, the tip line for the adults,” said Garrett.