With Warren County being named among 16 recipients for a Crime Stoppers grant, Sheriff Jackie Matheny said he hopes to have the crime fighting program up and running soon.
“It’s a very good thing to have and it’s been shown to be effective in places where it is run,” said Matheny.
Warren County was awarded $6,250 from the TBI to start the Crime Stoppers program. Overall, the TBI carved up $100,000 appropriated by the state legislature for the plan for the 16 county and city departments. Nearby, Smithville city and Rutherford County both received funding.
Crime Stoppers is aimed at solving crimes and offers monetary rewards for people who provide information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator. Funds for the Crime Stoppers program can be used both to reward tipsters and to publicize the facts of the case in all forms of media and by posters, thus alerting the public to the crime.
“This is something we’ve been looking at doing for awhile. Now that the TBI has added funding, we hope to get it going in the not-too-distant future,” said Matheny, noting the crimes highlighted for Crime Stoppers will be determined on a case-to-case basis.
While there is no cap on reward money, most Crime Stoppers rewards start at $1,000, but could be augmented by private money.