VIDEO: If You Know About A Crime, Call This Line

CHICKASAW AND CLAY COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Those shootings are one reason why crime stoppers exists.

It plays a big role in investigations and possibly preventing others.

There are different crime stoppers’ organizations across Mississippi, including North Mississippi Crime Stoppers out of Tupelo, and the Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers.

Tips called in are just like any other evidence and have to be examined to make sure they’re credible.

Crime stoppers is another arm that law enforcement can use to get their jobs done.

“The best way to explain it is like a three legged stool. You have the media, which is crime stoppers, and then you have law enforcement, and the public, and all three of them work together and solve a lot of crimes. When one of those legs from that stool is missing you fall over,” says Chickasaw County Sheriff James Meyers.

Meyers says people call in monthly with tips and most people don’t do it for the cash, but out of their civic pride or duty.

“A lot of times, people will maybe call about a crime we don’t even know has been committed and help us develop a suspect, and like I said, they know they can call, remain anonymous, and if their tip works out to lead to an arrest and conviction, then you know, they make money off of it and we encourage all folks to please call.”

The crime stoppers budget comes from fees added to traffic tickets, fundraisers, and donations. That money funds the anonymous rewards that make the program work.

“Their records, they cannot be made to turn them over. When somebody calls, they’re assigned a number and that’s how they’re known by is their number, so names are never mentioned.”

Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers started 25 years ago, and since then over 1,400 arrests have been made, over a million dollars of stolen property has been recovered, and nearly $300,000 dollars worth of reward money has been given out.

“There’s all types of crimes and we always ask for any information on any crime that happens, that could be anywhere from a burglary, all the way up to a homicide, and fortunately, we’ve had callers that call in on all these types of crimes,” says Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott.

Information that comes in helps get the ball rolling in the right direction on cases for law enforcement and even help lead to arrests and convictions.

“Just that one little bit piece of information can make a difference in a case. For example, this past homicide that we had in our county, you know, we received some phone calls, so again, you just never know how important information is going to be to us and the main thing we want to stress is that it is anonymous,” says Scott.

The highest amount of reward money offered by Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers is a thousand dollars.