[July 06, 2011] EDITORIAL: Crime Stoppers program works and deserves our support Tweet Jun 26, 2011 (The Olympian - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Race Against Crime Fundraiser: For Crime Stoppers of Olympia/Thurston County. When: 7:30 a.m. registration on Aug. 7, at Rainier Vista Community Park on 45th Avenue in Lacey. What: 10K and 5K run ($25 registration fee which includes a T-shirt); 1-mile run ($5 fee); and kid's dash (free). For more information: Call 360-438-4200. Crime Stoppers, an anonymous tip line which is credited with solving three murder cases in the South Sound community, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In those two decades, the anonymous tip line has racked up quite an impressive record: 924 suspects arrested. 944 cases cleared. 10,108 tips received. $164,835 rewards paid. $1.85 million in stolen property recovered. $6.92 million in narcotics seized. In addition to the three homicides solved through Crime Stopper line, tips have solved 27 robberies, 31 burglaries, 56 thefts, 17 auto thefts and 11 bank robberies. It's a great community program because it takes criminals off the street and puts reward money into the pockets of concerned citizens who want to see those criminals brought to justice. Crime Stoppers is an international program that got its start in July 1976 when two criminals gunned down Michael Carmen, who was working at a small gas station in Albuquerque, N.M. The killers robbed, then shot Carmen for no apparent reason. Police worked the homicide case, but were getting nowhere. A police detective encouraged a television news crew to re-enact the crime. A viewer saw the re-enactment, phoned police with a pivotal tip and within 72 hours Carmen's two killers were in police custody. Crime Stoppers was born. The Crime Stoppers program came to this community on Feb. 28, 1991, after local resident John McCarthy and former Lacey Police Commander Ed Sorger formed a nonprofit organization to take anonymous tips and pay out rewards. Start-up funds came from the Legislature. It's important to note that Crime Stoppers is governed by a citizens board of directors. They work in tandem with law enforcement officers assigned by Olympia, Lacey, Yelm and Tumwater police departments, the Thurston County Sheriff's Office and Washington State Patrol. But it's citizens, not police, who determine the value of the tip and make the financial award -- which many tipsters reject. Many tipsters decline the reward, saying they merely want to do the right thing and hold criminals accountable. A growing portion of the program is the student Crime Stoppers program in local schools. Students can offer anonymous tips about weapons or drugs at school, help solve assaults and other crimes, without gaining a "snitch" label. Each school district has its own tip line. For the adult program, tipsters call the Crime Stoppers number -- 360-493-2222 -- which is answered around the clock. Volunteers are trained to take the information and pass the tip to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Sometimes, according to Sorger, those are hot tips, such as the time a local murder suspect was at the downtown bus station preparing to flee. When police got the anonymous tip, they raced to the scene and made the arrest. In a second case, a Crime Stoppers tip broke the case of a 38-year-old Delphi Road resident who had been murdered. And six years ago, murder suspect Keith R. Gomez was arrested in a Las Vegas motel after a Crime Stoppers tip. Gomez was subsequently convicted of killing a 24-year-old man outside a downtown Olympia nightclub. Sorger said the integrity of the Crime Stoppers program depends on local law enforcement officers honoring the anonymity of participants. A tipster who calls the number -- 360-493-2222 -- is given a code number. There is no caller ID, so there is no way to trace the source of the call. The tipster is instructed to call back in one or two weeks and use the code number. If the tip was useful, the civilian board authorizes a reward amount and the anonymous tipster is instructed to go to a bank and provide the code number. The tipster is then handed an envelope with the cash reward. "There's no cops hiding in the parking lot, no cameras, it's truly anonymous," Sorger said. Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim, the immediate past president of the Crime Stoppers board, said the anonymous tips are extremely useful to law enforcement and help the officers develop strong cases which make stronger cases his deputy prosecutors can pursue. Tips also save valuable investigative time. Tunheim notes that all the money paid out in rewards by the citizen board members is raised locally, generally through private contributions or business donations. No tax money is used to support the Crime Stoppers program. The organization's primary fundraiser, a "Race Against Crime" will be held on Aug. 7, in Lacey. Donors deserve credit for keeping this valuable public safety program operational in our community. As the statistics show, hundreds of criminals have been arrested and hundreds of crimes have been solved thanks to the lure of the anonymous tip line. Crime Stoppers deserves broad community support. To see more of The Olympian, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.theolympian.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]