CrimeStoppers Needs Money to Continue Operations
[gtxvideo vid=”qjsGBJjo” playlist=”” pid=”XiOflQdH” thumb=”http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/qjsGBJjo.jpg” vtitle=”Crime Stoppers”]
Crimestoppers, the non-profit organization that financially rewards people for information that leads to the arrest of a suspect, is itself low on funds.
Now the crime-fighting organization is seeking donations so they can continue to serve the community.
You can view Crimestoppers needing money as both a good and bad thing. It’s good because it means the organization is giving out more reward money, and solving more crimes. But the downside of that is that crimestoppers can’t keep up with how much they’re giving out.
Crimestoppers mission is simple. It’s “to assist law enforcement in capturing criminals by working with the community.” And over the years, the organization has done just that. 21-year-old Patrick Moore Jr. was arrested on a murder charge just last week because someone called in a tip.
“We started showing more bad guys and unsolved crime on the television and the social media. To our amazement, it worked,” says Tony Garrett. “We started paying more money because we started arresting more people.”
Garrett is the Executive Director of Crimestoppers and says just a few years ago, the organization was paying out around 3 thousand dollars a year in reward money. But now he says now they’re up to 20 thousand dollars a year.
Captain Scott Seithalil with the Montgomery Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division says getting reward money from Crimestoppers is a fast process.
“They confirm it and they will call that person who gave them the information and give them a number. They take that number to a bank downtown, walk in, give them that number at the desk and they’re paid their money.”
Seithalil says he believes Crimestoppers is seeing success because witnesses are able to remain anonymous.
“We have sent subpoenas in the mail trying to request who this valuable witness is but they stand firm and the courts have ruled that they don’t have to go give us that information,” he says.
“As of 1997, we have had no one to be identified through our tip line through out program so if they’re anonymous, they stay anonymous through us,” Garrett says.
Since Crimestoppers began in 1997, it’s cleared more than 3,000 cases and paid out nearly $100,000 in rewards. And it’s not just a hotline for calling in tips, Crimestoppers has helped connect people with other resources involving homelessness and sexual assault.
Since Crimestoppers began in 1997, it’s cleared more than 3,000 cases and paid nearly $100,000 in rewards. But they need money coming in to make up for the money given out. To donate, Call 215-STOP between 9 and 4.
