With the city’s new reward program for criminal information, more money comes with more responsibility.
The Columbus City Council last week established the reward program, offering $15,000 to citizens for information leading to an arrest and conviction in murder cases and $5,000 for an arrest and conviction in armed robbery or attempted armed robbery cases.
The city will pay the rewards from its general fund.
The catch: Unlike the longer-established Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers hotline — founded in 1991 — that offers smaller awards (usually up to $1,000) for anonymous tips, the city’s new program does not guarantee anonymity. In fact, it encourages citizens giving police information to sign sworn affidavits if necessary to land a conviction.
“We’ve always pushed out Crime Stoppers first,” CPD Chief Oscar Lewis said during a press conference on Wednesday. “But that wasn’t enough motivation or didn’t appear to be for these people to come forward, and we were hoping this $15,000 reward and the $5,000 reward for armed robberies or attempted armed robberies would help people come forward.”
CPD leadership said, while it is possible to remain anonymous when hoping to claim a $15,000 reward from the city, tipsters shouldn’t count on it.
“What this is, we’re asking you to step out of your comfort zone,” said Capt. Brent Swan, head of CPD’s Investigation Division. “We’re asking you to come forward and give us information we need to be able to push forward (to trial).”
Concerns
But Ken Winter, executive director of the Mississippi Police Chief Association, said he had concerns about the program’s administration and lack of anonymity.
“Anonymity is one of the crucial factors because, in my opinion, …if you don’t have total anonymity, then (there’s) the possibility of a person’s name getting out and then later on being subpoenaed by the defense,” he said.
Winter doesn’t know of any other police departments in the state that offer blanket rewards on information for any crimes independent of Crime Stoppers. What’s more common, he said, is cities offering money for information on specific crimes; One such reward was offered for information on a recent church arson in Greenville, he said.
Those are frequently supplemented by private donors, he added.
“I wonder why the city chose to do this independently and privately,” he said.
But Winter admitted he didn’t know all the details of the city’s new program and said he hoped the city successfully used it to solve cases.
Unsolved murders
Of 10 murders reported so far this year in Columbus, four remain without suspects, a fact that precipitated the city creating extra incentive for credible information.
Swan said citizens offering tips on older unsolved cases would also be eligible for rewards.
Tipsters hoping to cash in on the reward money must verify their information with dates, times, names and hopefully physical evidence, Assistant Police Chief Fred Shelton said.
“The info is going to have to be specific,” Shelton said. “One thing that’s not allowed in court is hearsay. So, if you tell me, ‘John Doe did it,’ the next question is, ‘How do you know he did it?’ …If you know that John Doe was there, you know he’s seen it, and you can put me in contact with John Doe, then that’s good,” Shelton said. “That’s not just hearsay.
“‘I know John Doe did it, and he’s keeping a gun at his cousin’s house under the stove,'” he added as an example. “That’s specific information.”
The number to call with information to receive the reward is 1-877-273-4552.
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