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Lack of funding stymies Crime Stoppers program
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Posted on Jan 19 2009
The NMI Crime Stoppers Program has stopped featuring “Crime of the Week” stories on local TV due to a severe lack of funding, according to the program’s president, Jim Arenovski.
“We don’t have the ‘Crime of the Week’ [segment] anymore on TV. It’s a disappointment for us,” Arenovski said. “It’s just that we can no longer fund that program.”
The Crime Stoppers Program used to cost $800 a month. The program would air stories of pertinent crimes in the CNMI every Friday on KSPN Channel 2.
“We are looking for the community’s help, if the community would like to make donations to help us get that Crime of the Week back on TV every Friday,” Arenovski said.
The Crime Stoppers president said that featuring specific crimes on TV made the public aware of certain crimes and helped authorities in solving them.
He said many of the people who call Crime Stoppers to provide information about crimes actually don’t call back to get the monetary rewards.
“They just want a conduit to provide that information to get criminals off the street. Maybe the money is not important to them, but [the program] is an important avenue for them to call,” Arenovski said.
Since 1989, he said, the program paid less than $10,000 in monetary rewards to tipsters. In 2008, Crime Stoppers reportedly paid only $1,800 to tipsters.
“We don’t have many tips that led to arrests in 2008,” Arenovski said.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial signed a proclamation last Thursday declaring January as the NMI Crime Stoppers Program Month.
