How it Works
Hays County Crime Stoppers
Your Most Powerful Weapon Against Crime
Put simply it is a three-part approach to solving the crime problem. Crime Stoppers relies on cooperation between the police, the media, and the general community to provide a flow of information about crime and criminals.
Phone Call
Calls are received at the Hays County Crime Stoppers tips line call center. This line does not provide caller ID and conversations are not recorded. The highly-trained call center operator receiving the information completes the tips information form, the tip is forwarded to our tips software, our Law Enforcement Coordinator makes initial inquiries, and then passes the information to the investigating officer.
By guaranteeing a caller's anonymity Crime Stoppers allows the caller to give information in a positive atmosphere without the prospect of retribution. By offering cash rewards for information leading to indictment or arrests, the program encourages otherwise reluctant callers to provide information.
Online Web Tip
Just click on the "Submit Tips" button here in our website. The process is completely secure and anonymous and is a very effective and efficient means of safely communicating with us in today's world.
P3 Tips App
We have a mobile app that can be downloaded on your iPhone or Android smartphone. As in web tips, they are completely secure and anonymous. Please download our app by going to this website's 'Welcome' tab, go to the bottom of the page and selecting the phone app.
End Result for All Three Methods
Using our P3 Tips Software, we provide a very unique integrated Two-Way Dialog capability allowing the tipster to come back anonymously and provide additional information to their tip at any time and also provides a secure means for the coordinator to ask questions or provide reward information back to the tipster through the same secure and encrypted interface.
Structure and Funding of Crime Stoppers
Hays County Crime Stopper is a not-for-profit organization (Charity). A civilian community board of directors provides direction as to the financial and promotional activities of the program. We meet on the 3rd Monday night of a month at the Hays County Public Safety Building located at 810 South Stagecoach Trail San Marcos, Texas at 5:30 PM for board decisions that additionally evaluate arrests and determine the size of the rewards.
The board of directors is involved in the community and they are vital to the program's success. BECOME ONE OF US!
The Crime Stoppers program is funded by grants, private donations, and fundraising. Hays County Crime Stoppers is working to change this dynamic so that NO TAX DOLLARS are involved. Please help!
Does Crime Stoppers Work?
The answer is quite simply YES! Since the start of Crime Stoppers, many calls have been received resulting in thousands of arrests and recovery of substantial amounts of property. Calls have included information about murder, robbery, rape, assaults, drug and firearm offenses.
The success of a Crime Stoppers program cannot be purely judged on statistics, however, other benefits have come to notice:
-
A greater awareness in the community that crime is always a problem.
-
A willingness by the community to fight back against crime if it is given the opportunity and motivation.
-
Improved relationships between police, media, and the community.
Hays County Crime Stoppers is definitely here to stay. It has been accepted by Law Enforcement as a valid and effective investigative tool and the public, through its overwhelming response, appears to have accepted it as a more palatable alternative to traditional methods of giving information.