By Ashley Landis
Hays County Crime Stoppers is having a big year.
So far in 2009, anonymous tips made to the program have aided in the solving of 50 cases. That’s more than one case per week and a record for the organization.
“From what I can tell from the archives, most years it’s in the low 30s,” Sgt. Mike Wood of the Hays County Sheriff’s Office said. “This year we’re having a big year.”
Wood said recent publicity, like sending out the “Crime of the Week” to media sources and posting the “Most Wanted” information, has aided in making residents more “in tune” to local crime.
A special “Most Wanted” page, with descriptions and photos of suspects, appears in the Daily Record every other week.
“The information we’re getting is better,” he said. “We’ve had some good arrests made from the “Most Wanted” list.”
Eight of the 50 cleared cases were cold cases. Cold cases involve suspects who have been on the run for several years.
“People are reading and doing something about it,” said Don Arledge, executive director of Hays County Crime Stoppers.
Arledge said a group of Texas State marketing students helped the program with publicity this semester by incorporating Facebook and Twitter accounts.
“The really unique and wonderful thing about it is that as new students come in over the next few years they will be enhancing our visibility,” he said.
A new feature on the Crime Stoppers Web site (www.callcrimestoppers.com) this year allows for anonymous e-mail tips.
“It will hide the e-mail address so we don’t see it,” Wood said. “It’s a great tool for getting information from people who wish to remain anonymous.”
It’s a far cry from where the local Crime Stoppers program started in 1981, when the program could expect to solve only two to three cases a month.
Crime Stoppers received a toll-free phone number in 1991, which immediately was rewarded when the first caller gave information about a murder in Miami, Fla., according to the Crime Stoppers Web site. The man called San Marcos by mistake, but the information was forwarded to the Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers program, resulting in three arrests.
“We’ll get information about a crime and forward it to the law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction, and they make the arrest,” Wood said.
Everyone who calls with a tip speaks to a live person every time, and some tips lead to a reward of between $100 and $1,000.
“I feel like we have a real far-going process and I’m excited to see where it will go over the next few years,” Arledge said.
