Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers looks to increase tip fund
GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. – Submitting tips to law enforcement can not only help them arrest a suspect, but it can also put money in your pocket. They want information, not names.
Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said this is an anonymous tool tipsters can use and not fear for their safety.
“It has been a troubling trend with law enforcement. The fact that were have not only our general public who is afraid of some type of retaliation, but even our victims are not talking to law enforcement and it hampering the hands of some law enforcement and our prosecutor in prosecuting some of these crimes,” Scott said.
You can get up to $1,000 if your tip leads to an arrest.
You can phone in your information, or use the P3 tips app.
”The good thing about providing a tip through the p3 tips app is we as investigators can communicate with the tipster and it’s still an anonymous tip. We don’t know who we’re communicating with,” Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said.
When you get a citation in most areas of the Golden Triangle, $1 from that citation goes back to crime stoppers to pay citizens for submitting tips that lead to arrest.
Scott said the board of supervisors in Clay County just increased that to the maximum amount of $2.
“Amory did advise me that they had just raised theirs also to the $2,” Scott said. “I’m trying to work and help the other municipalities and counties get theirs also, and get to the $2 limit on it.”
So, what does the increase mean for citizens? There is more money in the pot to give you that money if your tip leads to an arrest. What does it take to get all areas of the Golden Triangle up to the limit?
“It takes board action is what it takes,” Scott said. “Your county boards and your city boards have to vote to go in there and spread it on the minutes.”
“Our bylaws are set up to where law enforcement can not participate in voting on the payouts for the tipsters, so we have to have the public’s input,” Hawkins said. “They’re welcome to come, it’s an open meeting., and they can vote on the payouts that we pay to the citizens that provide tips in our community. ”
Both Hawkins and Scott agreed that it would take the public getting more involved, and everyone working as one.
Crime Stoppers meets on the third Wednesday of each month.
