LANCASTER—The Lancaster County Crime Solvers board recently released a statistics report for the month ending October 10, 2016, and accumulative statistics since the organization’s inception on September 1, 1985, reported president Ronnie Crockett.
For the period ending October 10, three calls were issued. Cases included three burglaries, one narcotics, one fugitive, one probation violation and one other case. One case was solved and three remain under investigation. In related action, one defendant was tried and found guilty.
In the running tally since Crime Solvers was organized here, 1,497 calls were issued. Cases included 28 related to school policy, 14 homicides, four rape, 18 robbery, 30 aggravated assault, 69 burglary, 161 larceny/non auto theft, 20 larceny/auto theft, two arson, one bomb threat, 342 narcotics, 50 fraud, 516 fugitive, 19 vandalism, 44 probation violators, 21 child support, 37 other, 11 traffic, 12 gang, nine shooters of persons or property and one kidnapping.
Some 685 cases were solved and 57 remain under investigation. Defendants tried totaled 411, defendants convicted totaled 367 for a 93% conviction rate.
The value of recovered stolen property totaled $381,140, value of recovered narcotics totaled $169,060, and value of property recovered from narcotics raids totaled $83,334, for an overall value totaling $633,534.
Master deputy Judy Scott Boyer is the Lancaster County Crime Solvers coordinator, said Crockett.
Organization
He noted that the Lancaster County Crime Solvers is a Crime Stoppers program.
Crime Stoppers was the brainchild of Albuquerque detective Greg MacAleese, who was concerned by the number of unsolved cases he and fellow detectives were working. He felt information to solve the crime was available from someone other than the criminal.
Members of the community, media and law enforcement partnered to offer crime-solving assistance to law enforcement and the first Crime Stoppers program was born on September, 8, 1976.
Crime Stoppers programs combat three major problems faced by law enforcement:
• Fear of reprisal.
• An attitude of apathy.
• Reluctance to get involved.
To resolve these problems, Crime Stoppers offers anonymity to those who provide information about crimes, and pays rewards when information leads to an arrest.
The media routinely publishes case information and numbers to call.
Crime Stoppers programs extend around the world and are represented in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean and Latin America, Europe, Australia and the South/Western pacific.
Calls to Crime Stoppers are received on secured non-recorded phone lines and are confidential. Callers are given a number, no names are taken and phone numbers are not identified. Investigators receive only the information provided by the caller.
Crime Stoppers/Solvers and its callers are protected by the Code of Virginia. According to 15.2-1713.1, section B, evidence of a communication or any information contained therein between a person submitting a report of an alleged criminal act to a “Crime Stoppers” organization and the person who accepted the report on behalf of the organization is not admissible in a court proceeding. Law-enforcement agencies receiving information concerning alleged criminal activity from a “Crime Stoppers” organization shall maintain confidentiality pursuant to subdivision A 3 of 2.2-3706.
This section further states under subdivision A3, Prohibited releases, that the identity of any individual providing information about a crime or criminal activity under a promise of anonymity shall not be disclosed.
