Houston Crime Stopper Proposal Essay

Description: This Crime Stopper Awareness presentation will be given to a small group of family and friends. This presentation is based on informing the audience members about the Crime Stoppers Organization in hopes of raise their awareness of Crime Stoppers and to get them more involved in stopping crime in our area. It is an opportunity for the audience members to learn about the many accomplishments of Crime Stoppers, and what makes this organization so successful. The audience will come to understand about how Crime Stoppers is able solve crimes and reduce the crime rates in the area. There will also be a segment focusing on the Safe School Program and how audience members can also get involved to help fight crime. All information in this presentation was obtained from the Crime Stoppers website: www.crime-stoppers.org Crime Stoppers Awareness Presentation The first Crime Stoppers program was implemented in New Mexico in 1976 and they have been growing ever since. Today there are over 3100 Crime Stoppers chapters across the United States, and an additional 1000 more scattered throughout other areas of the world. The Houston Crime Stoppers program was set up by local businesses in 1981 due to the increased level of crime in the greater Houston area. Crime Stoppers is a community-based program that works with law enforcement to solve crimes, ensure safer neighborhoods and schools for our children and also to provide people with the tools they need to help create a safer community. Houston Crime Stoppers has not only had a big impact on Houston, but also on other parts of the world. Thus, 10% of all worldwide arrests have come from tips that came in through the Houston chapter. For example, in 2007 Houston Crime Stoppers was responsible for solving over 30,000 crimes and received tips that led to 25,000 felony arrests. Also, Crime Stoppers has paid out over $10 million in rewards for tips leading to successful arrests. All the money Crime Stoppers has paid out is dependent on the donation from the community and fund raising events held by Crime Stoppers such as their â€Å"Brighter Tomorrow Gala†. Crime Stoppers goal is to create a safer community by helping to capture criminals and get them off Houston streets. In 2012, Crime Stoppers help to led to 684 felons arrests and solve 751 crimes such as: 18 murders, 10 capital murders, 79 robberies and 32 burglaries. Also, there were 34 cases solved in 2012 involving sex crimes against children. In addition, since 2007 Houston Crime Stoppers has assisted in helping to put criminals behind bars, to date the totaling jail time is 10,859 years in prison, 45,018 days in county and 24 life sentences. All these criminals were arrested, taken off the streets, and incarcerated thanks to the tips received from the community trying to stop crime. Another important program sponsored by Crime Stoppers is their Safe School Program that was started in 1997 and their motto is â€Å"Safe School Program is to cultivate and educate the youth of today and prevent the crimes of tomorrow†. This program has helped to remove guns from schools and in 2011 and 2012, Crime Stoppers helped solve 186 school related crimes. The goal is to not only fight the crimes occurring at public schools but also to educate students and thus far, Safe School, has provided over 1,000,000 students with safety training. This not only cuts down on crimes within the schools, it also leads to fewer student dropouts. Safer school led to safer neighborhoods, which increases property values and community job growth in the area. Therefore, protecting your children, schools and neighborhood from crime is an investment to the entire community! Crime Stoppers has been so successful not only because they work with law enforcement, but also due to the support they receive from the community. It is the tips from everyday people that allow the crimes to be solved and for the criminals to be apprehended. For instance, in the past many people had been afraid to contact the police to report information about a crime for the fear of retaliation or from fear of consequences from law enforcement. The key element in reporting tips to Crime Stoppers is that the individuals can remain anonymous; no questions asked. Also, any tip that results in a felony arrest, Crime Stoppers will pay a reward of $5,000 in cash, and again, no questions asked! By offering this reward incentive and allowing people to report their tips anonymously, more information is being reported, and more crimes are getting solved. Crime Stoppers is able to receive tips several way: by phone through their tip line at 713-222-TIPS, and also by text and email. So, Crime Stoppers offers a cash incentive for reporting tips and in doing so, have made it safe from anyone’s identity being revealed and easy for the various channels tips to be reported. In addition, Crime Stoppers has several other active programs in the efforts of making the greater Houston area safer. The newest society is Mothers Against Crime, which started in 2006 in hopes for safer neighborhoods for our children. Also, Crime Stoppers and the Gulf Coast Offenders Task Force have launched a campaign in arresting criminals with outstanding warrants for crimes against children. All that Crime Stoppers are able to do cannot be done without the involvement of the community, and the financial support of local businesses and individuals. Therefore, to help stop crime in our area please join in the fight with Crime Stoppers by getting involved in their local programs and/or donate to Crime Stoppers to help them continue to make Houston a safer place to live. It takes everyone in the community, working together to fight crime! Thank you.