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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