News

A click against crime

July 3, 2009 - commercialappeal.com

Crimestoppers of Memphis and Shelby County has been around for 28 years.

The program encourages people to earn a cash reward by picking up a phone and anonymously telling authorities about a crime suspect.

Earlier this week, however, Crimestoppers started accepting tips through the Web and text messaging, in addition to the traditional telephone tip.

Using the Web and text messages could speed up police response to crime and also allow officers to engage in two-way communications with tipsters.

"This is one of the biggest breakthroughs in our history," said E. Winslow "Buddy" Chapman, a former Memphis police director and currently Crimestoppers executive director.

To make the new technology available, Crimestoppers now subscribes to new information management software that allows tipsters to easily report crimes using the Web and text messaging while retaining their anonymity.

Crimestoppers also is launching an ad campaign to let the public know about the new ways of reporting crimes. Tipsters can send information via the Web by visiting 528CASH.org. A text message can be sent by typing the word "Award" and a short message to CRIMES (or 274637). Of course, regular phone users can still call 528-CASH.

In a community where crime is always top of mind, these improvements are a welcome addition to law enforcement's crime-fighting toolbox.

Send crime tips via the Web, text

July 2, 2009 - commercialappeal.com

Dropping a dime on a crime suspect no longer requires a telephone conversation.

Beginning Wednesday, CrimeStoppers of Memphis and Shelby County started receiving citizens' tips via the Web and by way of text message in addition to the traditional phoned-in tip.

The expanded CrimeStoppers program also will allow police officers who receive a message at the Memphis Police Department Real Time Crime Center to engage in two-way communications with the tipster, seeking further information.

The information transfers, like the tips that come over the telephone, are guaranteed to remain anonymous.

"This is one of the biggest breakthroughs in our history," said CrimeStoppers executive director E. Winslow "Buddy" Chapman.

"It has always been incumbent on us to make reporting a tip as easy as possible, while always maintaining anonymity," he said. "We must guarantee that no one will ever know the identity of the person contacting us with information."

The CrimeStoppers board of directors approved spending the funds to subscribe to new information management software offered by Anderson Software, a Texas company doing business with more than two dozen CrimeStoppers organizations.

When someone texts a tip message, the automated system called TipSoft sends an immediate reply that includes a special code, unique to the tipster. This takes place as a computer server in Canada strips all identifying information from the digital communication. Canada is immune from disclosure requirements, Chapman said.

Joining Chapman in announcing the new technology Wednesday were Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin, Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell and Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons.

Chapman also detailed the simultaneous marketing campaign launch to tell the public about the options for texting and Web mailing tips.

Ads will run on MATA buses and other venues, and informational cards will be distributed.

Jacobs’ father Alan Jacobs said today he appreciates the donation to bring the reward in the case to $10,000 and he hopes it will lead to new evidence in the case.

The parents of slain Ethan Jacobs stand by as Memphis Police Det. Monique Martin addresses the press.

Reward reaches $10,000 in Ethan Jacobs case thanks to new donor interested in justice

November 2008

MEMPHIS, TN — A new donor has stepped forward to increase to $10,000 the reward for information on the murder of Ethan Jacobs last May.

Jacobs was slain in an apparent random act of violence at a McKellar Lake marina near President’s Island. Memphis authorities believe solving the case “is only a good tip away,” said E. Winslow (Buddy) , director of CrimeStoppers of Memphis and Shelby County, at a press conference today.

Jacobs, 31, was shot about 11:30 at night May 25, 2007. Police called it an apparent robbery attempt. Witnesses said a dark red or maroon four-door Nissan — a late 1980s or early 1990s model — pulled into the Riverside Park Marina parking lot. Two men described as black males were in the car.

Moments later, the car’s passenger leaned out and fired a gun, striking Jacobs. The car then fled the scene. Jacobs died the next day.

The shooter was described to police as 18-24 years old, weighing about 150 pounds. He had corn-row-styled hair and a light-colored bandana on his head. Although police made an arrest following the slaying, the case against the individual was dropped because a witness could not make a positive identification. Detectives hope someone with information will contact the Homicide Bureau at 545-5300, or call CrimeStoppers at 528-2274, which guarantees anonymity.

Trust Pays informational video available to community groups

August, 2008
CrimeStoppers of Memphis and Shelby County has announced it will make available to any community or civic group a copy of a dvd disk explaining the Trust Pays program.

In making the announcement, CrimeStoppers director Buddy Chapman said the nine-minute video gives background on the program, explains how it works, and includes a first-person account by the principal of East High School about how Trust Pays has helped his school.

The video (streamable below) can be shown at PTA/PTO meetings, civic luncheons or at any meeting held by an organization interested in school safety and fighting crime in general.

For more information, contact CrimeStoppers at 525-5122.

Official says "Trust Pays" helps weed out guns and drugs
Reported by Nick Paranjape, WMCTV 5

Oct 25, 2007

(click to play video)

The Manassas High shooting was not the first time a gun was found in a Memphis classroom this year.

In 2007 from January to October, there have been 31 guns found inside Memphis and Shelby County schools.

Buddy Chapman, the head of Memphis CrimeStoppers, is the head "Trust Pays," a program designed to fight crime in schools.

"It's getting worse and worse," he said.

Basically, any student who has information about weapons or drugs at school can tell an adult they "trust." That adult will pass along the information to the principal, who then tells police.

The student is PAID anywhere from $50 to a$1,000 for the information, and remains anonymous.

"Guns and drugs in school...that's not snitching," Chapman said. "That's being responsible, because we're talking about danger here."

Since the program's inception in January, there were 62 weapons, including knives, razors, and guns, found in area schools.

"It used to be an unusual year when we found 2 or 3 guns for the whole year," Chapman said. "Well, what have we done, we found four in two months, and in the six months last (school) year we found 27."

And, Chapman said, there are a handful of students who didn't want the reward. Those incidents are not recorded in the Trust Pays program.

Chapman said not all the schools in Memphis and Shelby County participate in Trust Pays, but he believes they should.

"I can't say Trust Pays could've prevented Manassas, but I can tell you this: Somebody there, some responsible student, knew that kid had a gun, besides the one that got shot," he said.

Trust Pays students to fight campus crime
Reported by Nick Kenney, WMC TV 5
Oct 9, 2007

Inside a tiny conference room, eyes are peeled to the flat screen while a small group reviews a video. The purpose is to expand a program attempting to fight crime in schools.

It's a division of CrimeStoppers called Trust Pays. "Then we wound up finding, as I say, two loaded weapons in grammar schools," says Buddy Chapman.

The idea is simple. Any student who knows about illegal activity on campus can tell an adult on campus.

That adult tells the principal and the principal tells police. If successful in stopping that illegal activity, CrimeStoppers pays the student anonymously through the adult originally told.

Trust Pays started in January 2007. 34 schools participated and the program paid out 222 different times; 62 for weapons, 160 for drugs.

East High School Principal Fred Curry participates, calling the program necessary. "It's almost a godsend. It's a no-brainer because when I came to east High School and saw the way it was, I knew that I could not fix it myself," says Curry.

In an attempt to fix crime on other campuses, CrimeStoppers is making that video, preparing to show parent organizations. They're hoping all 239 schools across Memphis and Shelby County get on board.

Chapman adds, "We're getting there, let me tell you what, they've realized is what a tool it can be fro them, It is a principal run program so therefore it doesn't run unless the principal runs it."

Fourth Person In Custody For Taylor Bradford Murder
Three Arrested for Football Player's Murder
Monday, 08 Oct. 2007

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WHBQ FOX13 myfoxmemphis.com) -- A fourth person is in police custody for the murder of University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford.

Daeshawn Tate, Victor Trezevant and Courtney Washington, all 21-years old, were arrested after anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers, none of those arrested were students at the University. The fourth suspect's name has not been released

All three men are charged with murder in the perpetration of attempted aggravated robbery. Investigators believe that Bradford was specifically targeted in this crime.

MPD Director Larry Godwin stated that the investigation is still ongoing, and at least one more arrest could follow.

WHBQ Ch. 13: "Third Suspect Arrested in Tattoo Shop Murder"

According to police reports, a tip called in to CrimeStoppers led investigators with the Memphis Homicide Bureau to a residence in Hickory Hill, where they arrested Jeremy Young.

View the report