MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Law enforcement is still pleading for the public’s help after three children were shot and killed this week, and so far, no one has been arrested for the crimes.
901-528-CASH is a number said often in WREG newscasts, but law enforcement wants to remind people how CrimeStoppers works in hopes of someone giving information that could bring justice to the children’s families.
“No one ever knows,” CrimeStoppers Executive Director Buddy Chapman said. “We don’t have caller ID. We don’t want caller ID, but what we do want is community involvement.”
When someone calls in a CrimeStoppers tip, an operator answers and takes notes to see if a crime like what the caller is talking about occurred.
“The whole time you are telling what you know, that individual is typing it in, and it is going directly to homicide, violent crimes, wherever it needs to go,” Chapman said.
If the tip sounds credible the caller is given a tip number and told to call back every Tuesday.
If the caller continues to call each Tuesday, and it turns out the tip helped solve the crime, the caller can come get a reward.
“When you come in to get your reward, I personally make the rewards,” Chapman said. “I hand you cash. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t want to know who you are. I often have people at pay-off try and tell me who they are, and I say, ‘Wait, no, I don’t want to know who you are.’ It is not simply we’re trying to be nice and let it be anonymous. If we were made to tell who called us, we’d never get another call.”
CrimeStoppers solves about 45 crimes a month and at least one homicide a month, but sometimes as many as six.
But before any of those crimes can be solved, they have to get tips in first.
If you know information that could help CrimeStoppers with the recent fatal shootings of three children in Memphis, or any other recent crime, call their number: 901-528-CASH.
