By Carolyn Cole/Staff Writer
published Jan. 22, 2009

Volunteers worked for more than a year to revive Mustang’s Crime Stoppers chapter and now can offer rewards and anonymity to informants helping police solve and prevent future crimes.

Crime Stoppers is an international effort to help police crack tough cases by obtaining more information. Through a private tip line, callers can give information confidentially and then receive rewards if their report leads police to an arrest and conviction.

Mustang had an active Crime Stoppers group in the early 1990s, Chief Monte James said, but volunteers’ interest fizzled about a decade ago. This new board started rebuilding Mustang Crime Stoppers from scratch in November 2007, writing bylaws and seeking federal tax-exempt status, which they received notice of acceptance last week.

“They have put in a lot of hard work and a lot of time,” James said. “I want to thank the volunteers for all of the hard work they have done. We are looking forward to the program.”

Crime Stoppers chapters are private, non-profit organizations, separate from police department and city government operations. Boards are required to have at least seven members to form a Crime Stoppers unit, in addition to volunteers. Mustang has nine board members and one volunteer.

Board President Dorthy Harris said Crime Stoppers needs more volunteers and donations to begin to fund rewards.
“The community will have to help us in order to pay rewards; we know they will,” she said. “This community seems very responsible and willing.”

While Mustang’s crime rate isn’t considered high, Harris said, Crime Stoppers’ main mission is to help police gather information that leads to arrests to prevent future incidents and criminal activity in the community. Before moving to Mustang, she saw the program work when she served on a board in Rockwall, Texas, a small community outside Garland. While Rockwall neighborhoods didn’t experience many violent crimes, the Crime Stoppers volunteers focused efforts on property crimes, such as auto burglaries, vandalism and drug cases.

“It helps with crimes of all sorts,” she said. “You don’t have to be a big community to solve crime. We are really looking forward to making a difference.”

Mustang’s Crime Stoppers board members are still hammering out the fine details for their tip line process, Harris said because they couldn’t make progress before they received tax-exempt status. Now with the hurdle cleared, Harris said they hope to see donations begin to pour in.

The board will continue to meet at least once each month with Capt. Willard James, who is working as police liaison for the group. Board members will pick a crime incident to highlight each month, asking residents to bring forward information while offering a reward of up to $1,000 for tips leading to a conviction.

The Crime Stoppers’ tip line will be answered by a police department employee, but no automatic caller identification will be available for the line.

James said each call is given a code number, and the caller chooses whether to share their identity with the police department employee.

Once the employee finishes the Crime Stoppers report, an anonymous tipster will be asked to call the hot line back in a few weeks and tell the operator their code number to find out if their information led to an arrest and if they could receive reward money.

If a tip leads to a conviction, Harris said the Rockwall Crime Stoppers Board considered several factors in determining the amount of the reward given, including the number of crimes solved using the caller’s information, if property was recovered and any risk the informant faced for their report. In Rockwall, the board established an agreement with a local bank and left money with a teller for someone presenting the correct code number to protect anonymity.

“I don’t know what we will do,” Harris said. “We will work something out so in getting their rewards nobody will know who they are.”
Volunteers have a lot of work ahead of them to raise enough money to fund rewards, Harris said. In Texas, she said those convicted of crimes pay a fine to help support Crime Stoppers’ efforts. She said she would like to see similar legislation passed in Oklahoma.
“I live in a small community, a pretty safe community, and I’d like to keep it that way,” she said.

To join the efforts, call James at 376-7733. Donations can be sent to Mustang Crime Stoppers, P.O. Box 231 Mustang, OK 73064.

The Mustang Crime Stoppers tip line is 376-0000. For more information, visit them on the Internet at www.mustangcrimestoppers.org.