Editors' Forum | Nearly half of Crime Stop tipsters decline cash reward

Crime Stop Jamaica (CSJ) has revealed that nearly half of the persons who give the organisation anonymous tips, including those helping investigators to crack murder cases or locate wanted persons, do not ask for a reward.

Through the non-profit’s Crime Stop Unsolved programme, which is aimed at providing leads in murder investigations more than six months old, tipsters can collect from as little as $200,000 to as much as millions of dollars as sometimes business associates or friends of the deceased add to the reward pool. Tips for wanted persons generally attract a $50,000 reward.

However, money does not seem to be the only factor motivating Jamaicans to give anonymous tips to CSJ as many provide valuable information while declining the payout.

“At least 40 per cent – if not more – of our tipsters who give us credible information don’t ask for a reward. Money is not the only factor,” CSJ manager Prudence Gentles said at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last week.

She said that if the money is not used for payout, it is held in escrow for one year then returned to its donors. However, the CSJ accepts tips or information on any crime despite its age.

Gentles said that while CSJ receives a steady flow of general tips, Jamaicans have been slow in coming forward to offer information to solve murder cases despite the reward and its efforts to pinpoint specific incidents in advertisements.

“The tips coming in are very slow. It is just like our last-ditch effort to help the police solve unsolved crimes,” Gentles told the forum.

“We offer a $200,000 reward for that particular programme – Crime Stop Unsolved – and we have criteria that we use to choose the persons (victims for the campaign). One, it has to be unsolved. In other words, they (police) are not supposed to know who the persons are who did it. It (case) has to be at least six months old. That gives the police a chance to do their investigations, and so when after six months, they say that it is unsolved, then we will look at it and take it on,” she explained.

“The family must approve it because it can be very hard on them, if they don’t want it on the air, to have this being thrown at them all the time, so they must approve it,” Gentles added.

Assistant Commissioner of Police McArthur Sutherland said the police are grateful for the programme as it helps to reinforce or give additional information to cases they are trying to build.

“I think it’s a very good idea because it allows persons to pass on that bit of information that they may think is irrelevant, and maybe we have another part of the puzzle. This little bit can lead to maybe the identification of somebody, who is perhaps a witness, [to help build the case],” said Sutherland.

carlene.davis@gleanerjm.com