Hello Everyone,
Evelyn here,
The non-profit organization Crime Stoppers was awared a grand sum of $4.4 millions by the State of Florida Office of the Attorney. Crime Stopper is the organization that receive information about community crime and relies the information (tips) to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
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Bill McCollum
Attorney General
News Release
November 16, 2007
Statewide Crime Stoppers Organizations Get $4.4 Million in 2007-2008 Grants
Grants are awarded by the Attorney General’s Office
to support county anti-crime programs
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has awarded more than $4.4 million to the state’s Crime Stopper organizations, a group of non-profit organizations that receive information about crimes from the community and provide those tips to the appropriate law enforcement agency. The Attorney General’s Office administers grants to the organizations through the Attorney General’s Victim Services Division under the Florida Crime Stoppers Act. A total of $4,446,405 was granted to 29 programs which encompass 59 counties. The grant period will be run through September 30, 2008.
“Every cooperative opportunity we can make to fight crime in our communities is a step toward making Florida a safer place,” said Attorney General McCollum. “The Crime Stoppers programs work every day to bring in information about unsolved crimes and I know this information is essential to pursuing resolutions for those cases.”
The Crime Stoppers programs work by receiving tips through a phone line or online in a strictly anonymous setting. By guaranteeing a caller’s anonymity, Crime Stoppers allows the caller to give any necessary information without the fear of retribution or retaliation. As an incentive to callers who might be otherwise reluctant to provide tips, cash rewards are offered for information leading to indictment or arrests. Tips have included information about murder, robbery, rape, assaults, drug and firearm offenses.
The Florida Crime Stoppers Act was passed by the Legislature in 1998 and established the Crime Stoppers Trust Fund by imposing a court surcharge of $20 for criminal offenses in all county and circuit courts. In addition to providing funding for the state’s Crime Stoppers programs, the law provides for enhancement of public awareness for the organizations’ crime prevention methods and for training the public in personal safety principles, especially citizens who live in, work at, or frequent locations with high crime rates. The Attorney General’s Office administers the grant funds every year to carry out the purposes of the Florida Crime Stoppers Act.
"The beauty of Florida's Crime Stopper Trust Fund is that the funding does not come from tax dollars and it perpetuates itself," remarked Steve Rowland, President of the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers. "By utilizing the funding from the Crime Stoppers Trust Fund, our programs have been able to provide information leading to the seizing of multi-millions of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs, the recovery of millions of dollars of stolen goods and property, and tens of thousands of criminal arrests. There may be no better example of a public/private partnership which does as much to keep our citizens safe and the crime rates down in our communities."
One of the more innovative programs to be funded by the Crime Stoppers program was the Cold Case Playing Cards initiative, unveiled this summer at state prisons throughout Florida. In late July, approximately 100,000 decks of cold case playing cards were distributed to 93,000 inmates in the state’s 129 prisons. Each card features a photograph and factual information about an unsolved homicide or missing person case. The cards were given to the inmates so they could serve as of potential sources who may be able to provide critical information to help resolve an unsolved crime.
To date, two cases have been cracked from information provided by inmate tipsters who saw the case information on the playing cards. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is currently working with Crime Stoppers and Florida law enforcement to develop a third edition deck of cards to feature 52 new unsolved cold cases. Printing for the initial two different decks of cards, which profiled 104 unsolved cases from across Florida, was funded by the Florida Attorney General’s Crime Stoppers Trust Fund.
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Evelyn out.
