HOW TO GIVE A TIP AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Important:  We only pay for Crime Stoppers Tips. If a tip is given to law enforcement before we are contacted, it is not considered a Crime Stoppers' tip, and a cash reward will not be paid.  If a tipster makes the decision to talk to law enforcement after giving us a tip, please be advised that your anonymity may not be protected.  

Click on "Make A Tip" on this web page, call 361 362-0206 or 877 362-0206, or use Mobile App: P3 Tips to make an Anonymous Report on a Crime or Suspicious activity. There is no record of your call on our phone bills.

You will be given a Code Number to use if you are seeking a CASH REWARD of up to $1000. The call center will give you a local number to call to check the status of your tip. You will need the your code number when you call our local number. Remember, law enforcement needs time to investigate the tip, but as soon as they tell us it was a good tip, we will be ready to pay that cash reward.  $100-$300 will be added to a reward for a tip that helps to solve our "Crime of the Week". 

We have a way to pay your reward without ever knowing who you are (in fact, your identify is protected by law).

Crime Stoppers relies on cooperation between the police, the media, and the general community to provide a flow of information about crime and criminals. Solving a crime is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, YOU may hold the key piece. Just call 362-0206 and add your information to our effort. It could lead to a reward of up to $1000.

The Phone Call v

Your call is forwarded to a special Crime Stoppers' Call Center. They take your information and forward it to our Law Enforcement Coordinator via a secure Crime Stoppers software program called P3. He than sends that tip via the P3 software to the correct law enforcement agency necessary to investigate the tip. (The Call Center will give the tipster a code number and local phone number for our Law Enforcement Coordinator.) 

If the law enforcement agency lets Crime Stoppers know that it was a good tip that was helpful to solve the case, a reward is approved by the Crime Stoppers board.  The caller than needs to call our Law Enforcement Coordinator on the number they were given by the Call Center (and they need to know their code assigned to them) to arrange payment of the Cash Reward.

 

Three Components of Crime Stoppers:

Crime Stoppers works much like a three legged stool.  Law Enforcement, the public, and the media must all work together to make a successful program.

The Online Webtip

Tipsters now have the option of giving us tips online. The process is completely secure and anonymous and is a very effective and efficient means of safely communicating with us in today's world. Our WebTip process is powered by the world's leading online tip solution provider, Anderson Software.  

The very unique integrated Two-Way Dialog capabilities allow the tipster to come back and provide additional information to their tip at any time, but also provides a secure means for the coordinator to ask questions or provide reward information back to the tipster through the same secure and encrypted interface.

Structure and Funding of Crime Stoppers

Crime Stopper Programs are organized as a not for profit organization (Charity). A civilian community board of directors provides direction as to the financial and promotional activities of the program. The board of directors enhances the community involvement aspect, and its function is vital to the programs success.

The Crime Stoppers program is funded by private donations and fund raising. NO TAX DOLLARS are involved. The reward money paid out by the program comes from fees paid to District Court, and sent to CBCS via probation departments. These funds go into a separate account, and are monitored by Texas Crime Stoppers.  In some cases, citizens can leave reward money in escrow with CBCS for specific crimes.  The money will be returned after a period of time if the crime is not solved. Other information on funding can be found online . http://crimestoppers.txstate.edu/update1203.html

A community board of directors, made up of persons from throughout the area, meets on a monthly basis to evaluate arrests and to decide on the size of rewards to be paid, up to $1,000. Rewards are then distributed in a private manner to the callers. Callers are eligible for rewards up to $1,000, but, despite this, many callers choose not to collect their rewards.