Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers Seeing An Increase In Tips

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – An increase of Crime Stoppers tips is leading to arrests in the Golden Triangle.

The surge of information started back in mid January.

The coordinator for Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers believes a story we did back in early January, helped jump start the increase of information.

The story brought more attention to the program’s promise of anonymity, and less than 10 weeks later, calls have really ramped up.

Good tips help investigators build good cases and good cases lead to more arrests.

It’s something that’s paying off in the Golden Triangle.

“I ended up presenting 13 different cases to the Crime Stoppers board yesterday. Out of those 13, there were five arrests.”

Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers Coordinator and Lowndes County Narcotics Task Force MSGT. Kevin Forrester says he expects that number to grow.

“When the numbers are finished, out of thirteen, we’re probably looking at another three or four arrests, out of the thirteen, which is a real high percentage point waiting on those to finalize and then those numbers will come.”

Forrester says this is the most successful month he’s seen since he’s been the division coordinator.

He says it’s not just about numbers, but also agency cooperation.

In one of those 13 cases, information led two different agencies to realize they were looking for the same person.

“A Crime Stopper tip came in and that’s when we started realizing that, hey, the one you’re looking for is the one we were looking for. We were able to join forces that evening and as a result of that, we were able to serve the warrant that that agency had.”

Lowndes County Narcotics Task Force Captain Archie Williams says that one tip ended up leading to bigger things.

“That information that actually led to a location of a fugitive, which in return turned into a search warrant, a search of a residence, and a pretty, large substantial amount of cocaine and marijuana and even a cash seizure and weapons all in the same house.”

Williams says the rise in tips benefits all cases.

He believes WCBI’s recent story on Crime Stoppers shined a light on the promise of remaining anonymous.

“A lot of people have a problem believing things like that because they’re worried about the backlash. We kind of talked in depth on it and how anonymous you will remain and we will not give up your information and I believe that maybe pushed more people to actually get involved.”