Video: Campus Crime Stoppers Under Discussion

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WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) – Teenagers in the West Point School District could soon be calling in crime tips to law enforcement.

A program involving children from the local school district is already up an running in Hattiesburg.

The West Point Police Department could be used as a pilot location in Northeast Mississippi for Campus Crime Stoppers.

The crime fighting program would be implemented using teenagers from the West Point School District.

Formed in 1991, a successful Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers program operates in five counties.

“You know this organization has helped the citizens recover A lot of property that’s been stolen and helped law enforcement put a lot of criminals in jail,” said Eddie Scott, President, Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers.

A good program is expected to be even better if it is brought to school campuses where adolescent students call in when they witness a crime being committed.

“Again, with this program we’re looking at also being able to protect the identity of these juveniles that be reporting crimes to our juvenile officer,” said Scott.

“And a lot of times these kids know. They see crimes going on, they know of information. And by using this type of program, we feel like it would be a benefit to law enforcement and more protection for the community,” added Scott.

Under the Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers Program callers remain anonymous and can receive up to a thousand dollars for info leading to arrests and convictions.

Teens would receive gift cards or other rewards from local participating businesses.

Students can even download an application to submit their tips.

“We’ve seen a lot of spike in our juvenile crimes and we feel like that, you know this potential pool of information that we could draw from in helping solve some of these crimes,” added Scott.

Seeing that there are no city, county, state, or federal funds received by the organization, there is sure to be a dollar figure attached when implementing this innovative crime stoppers program.

The Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers board meets in December and could make a decision on whether or not to involve school campus teenagers in that program.