History of Crime Stoppers

In July of 1976 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a university student by the name of Michael Carmen, was working the night shift at a local gas station. At midnight that night two men with shotguns robbed the station, but before leaving they decide to shoot Michael, killing him. Michael was to be married in two weeks.

Six weeks into the investigation, Greg MacAleese, a police detective working on the murder case, had run out of leads. MacAleese knew that someone in the community had information about the murder, but because of fear, or some sort of twisted sense of "honor", they would not come forward. MacAleese arranged to film a reenactment of the crime and have it shown on the local television station. At the same time they advertised a reward that was being offered by a local civic organization and an anonymous phone line for people to call. Within a week, MacAleese had received a tip from an informant that led to the arrest of the individuals responsible and the reward was paid.

As an unexpected benefit

Detectives received lots of other information and solved many crimes unrelated to Michael's murder thanks to the anonymous "Tips"-line. Thus "Crime Stoppers" was born. Soon members of the local community, in partnership with the media and law enforcement, began an effort to provide crime-solving assistance to law enforcement full time. A cash reward was offered to anonymous persons who telephoned the Crime Stoppers hot line with information which led to the arrest and arraignment of the person or persons responsible for felony offenses. Word of the program's success soon spread and it was "copied" in many other communities.

Today, there are over 1,000 Crime Stoppers programs in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Bahamas, British West Indies, Micronesia, and other nations. The Crime Stoppers program has enjoyed great success boasting an average conviction rate of 95% on cases solved by Crime Stoppers' tips. The Crime Stoppers programs worldwide have solved over a half a million crimes and recovered over 3 billion dollars worth of stolen property and narcotics.

So, how does Crime Stoppers work?

When a person calls Crime Stoppers they are assigned a code number, then the telephone interviewers ask questions of the person and fill-out a questionnaire with the information of the criminal activity that they called to report.

Since Crime Stoppers does not want to know the identity of the person, the person is instructed that it is their responsibility to call Crime Stoppers with any additional information that may come up in the case and to call Crime Stoppers back to check up on their case.

After the questionnaire is complete, the coordinator reviews the information and decides which law enforcement agency to send the information to for follow-up investigation. The information on the handwritten tip sheet questionnaires.

These forms are sent to the law enforcement agencies that have been assigned to for follow-up investigation. The Investigators are asked to investigate the information and send information back to Crime Stoppers within 7 to 10 days with details of their investigation or arrests & cases cleared.

When the persons call Crime Stoppers to check the status of their cases, the person can be told what has happened in their case. If their tip resulted in arrest(s) and/or cases cleared the person is instructed on how they will receive their rewards.