What if there were a way
to tell police what you knew about a crime without fear of retribution or
retaliation, AND you could get a cash reward for that information? There is,
and it’s been solving crimes in the Kansas City metro area since 1982.
Greater Kansas City Crime
Stoppers provides a valuable resource to our department and many others: a way
for tipsters to tell police what they know while remaining anonymous. Since
their inception 33 years ago, KC Crime Stoppers has helped police arrest suspects
in 614 murders and 1,628 robberies, among other crimes, and it’s cleared 24,349
cases. They’ve also paid out more than $1.3 million in reward money. Through
February of this year alone, Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers has cleared 50
cases, including violent crimes like aggravated assaults and robberies.
When most people think of
getting information to Crime Stoppers, they think of the TIPS Hotline:
816-474-TIPS (8477). And that is an excellent way to do it. But there are many
other ways to reach them and still remain anonymous. You can submit a tip
electronically at www.KCcrimestoppers.com.
Or you can text TIP452 and your information to CRIMES (274637).
Crime Stoppers also
partnered with many Northland schools last fall in their Text-A-Tip program, in
which middle and high school students can report anything from bullying to
someone with a gun in the school. So far it has led to guns and narcotics being
recovered and prevented suicides. Crime Stoppers is looking to expand the
program into other schools around the metro area and have met with several
other school districts.
In case you were unaware,
Crime Stoppers is just one program under the umbrellas of the Kansas City
Metropolitan Crime Commission. The Commission operates everything from a
community service program for offenders sentenced to community service (which
cleans up nearly 500,000 pounds of illegally dumped material in our city every
year) to Second Chance, a program that helps offenders re-enter their
communities after time in incarceration. You can learn more about the Crime
Commission at www.kc-crime.org.
We are so fortunate to
have such well-operated programs that solve and prevent crimes in Kansas City.
Last year, KCPD Detective Kevin Boehm won Crime Stoppers Coordinator of the
Year from the National Crime Stoppers organization. Our program is truly one of
the best in the country. It gets cash to the people who give us information, it
protects their anonymity, it solves crimes, and it brings justice to those who
committed crimes. You can’t ask for much more.
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