Previous Story
‘Increase Crime Stoppers reward amount’
|
Posted on Jan 11 2005
A former board member of Crime Stoppers wants the cash reward being given to tipsters raised from the current amount of $1,000.
Tasi Tours general manager David Igitol asked his fellow Saipan Rotary Club members yesterday for support in getting the local Crime Stoppers to offer more than $1,000 for information relating to heinous crimes.
The Rotary Club has been instrumental in organizing the Crime Stoppers in the CNMI in March 1985. The club remains involved in the group by having two of its members—Dennis Yoshimoto and Frank Diaz—sitting in the Crime Stoppers’ board of directors.
“I’m doing this as an individual person who is just tired of reading about crimes that remain unsolved. If we want these crimes to be solved, we need the community to submit tips. It’s hard to encourage people to do that if we’re offering only $1,000. With a bigger amount, maybe we can entice people to come forward and tell us what they know. Anything higher than $1,000 will be fine,” Igitol said.
He said, however, that cash rewards amounting between $5,000 and $10,000 should be ideal for graver crimes such as rape, homicide, or murder.
Igitol said legislative amendments might also be needed to exempt Crime Stoppers’ rewards from taxation, once the increase is implemented. He noted that any income over $1,000 is subject to tax. An exemption, however, is necessary in order to keep the anonymity of the tipster.
Crime Stoppers began in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1976 in a unique effort to help solve a brutal slaying.
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 idea of using a televised re-enactment of the unsolved crime, combined with cash reward and a promise of anonymity, helped to draw valuable information from the public and gave birth to a worldwide crime fighting movement,” according to the organization.
The Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline number in the CNMI is 234-7272 (PARA).
Crime Stoppers assures callers that their identity would be kept confidential. A reward of up to $1,000 is also paid to callers whose information leads to an arrest.
