NEW MAX REWARD FOR CRIME TIPS COULD GO FROM $1K TO $5K
But can local groups afford to pay it?
You’ve seen the numbers at the end of news stories or police posts on social media:
“Police are asking anyone with information to call the anonymous Crime Line, 1-888-LOCK-U-UP, or submit tips to P3Tips.com.”
Those tips go to a local program that raises money to give tipsters up to $1,000 if there’s a resulting arrest. The tips are vetted by independent crime solver groups and fed to the department that’s investigating.
Rewards are capped at $1,000 because that’s the maximum allowed by state law without having to pay taxes on it, which means the tipster can remain anonymous.
Now, Speaker of the House Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, is proposing raising the nontaxable reward to $5,000.
“Local police and sheriff ’s offices across the Commonwealth are looking for new tools to fight crime in our neighborhoods and this legislation will offer more incentive for thosewithimportantinformationto come forward,” he said in a press release in early October.
Cox’s proposal would give crime solver groups the option of raising the reward amount. Cox’s spokesman, Parker Slaybaugh, said the Chesterfield/Colonial Heights Crime Solvers — one of around 35 to
40 groups in Virginia to accept tips and give cash rewards — approached Cox with the idea earlier this year.
“That ($1,000 reward) goes back to the 1990s, and so that’s a very old level of support,” Cox said when announcing his plans to file the legislation if reelected.
It’s rare for the speaker to file legislation. It’s also election season for Cox and his fellow members of the General Assembly, where party control is up for grabs. He’s facing a challenge Nov. 5 from Democrat Sheila Bynum-Coleman in a district that was recently ordered to be redrawn and now leans more Democratic.
Bynum-Coleman’s campaign manager, Rob Silverstein, called the proposed legislation a “no-brainer.” He noted that, even as Cox cites inflation to point out $1,000 doesn’t go as far as it used to, the incumbent has said he’s against raising the state’s $7.25 minimum wage, which hasn’t changed in a decade.
“It’s a shame that he doesn’t grasp that the same logic also applies to the minimum wage — no one can comfortably live on $7.25 an hour, and with inflation, it gets harder and harder for folks who earn that to make ends meet,” Silverstein said.
The crime line groups in Hampton Roads — most of which started in the 1980s and span Virginia Beach to James City County — received more than 4,500 tips last year and distributed around $68,500. The tips received resulted in 218 cases solved and 290 people arrested.
In the past 10 years, the amount of money awarded has dropped by around $41,000, according to statistics compiled by the Greater Hampton Roads Crime Lines, even as the number of tips received has increased.
And aside from a large jump in 2009, the number of cases solved through the tips has also dropped in the past 10 years. The same thing can be said for the number of people arrested after such a tip.
Cathy Richards is chairwoman of the Greater Hampton Roads Crime Lines and said it remains to be seen whether the local crime solver organizations she oversees would be in favor of increasing the payout to $5,000.
“It just means that each local board would have to do more fundraising,” she said over the phone. “If you have a couple of arrests and based on the scale it equates to $5,000, it can really hurt some of the smaller boards.”
The scale she’s referring to determines the amount of money awarded per tip. The reward depends on what the tip is and what the suspect is wanted for. A volunteer board in each of the localities that has a crime solver program decides the award value if there’s been an arrest, recovered stolen property or seized illegal drugs as a result of the tip.
“If this new increase is adopted and passed, our regional coordinators are going to have to look at revamping the pay scale,” Richards said.
The local groups’ fundraising comes in the form of golf tournaments, sponsored motorcycle rides, pancake breakfasts and other community events. The Greater Hampton Roads Crime Solvers’ biggest fundraiser is its annual “Top Cop” dinner, where officers are honored and money is raised through sponsorships and a silent auction.
Richards said she still meets people who either don’t know about the tip line or don’t believe it’s anonymous. But a $5,000 reward might draw more attention and lead to more tips, she added.
Lt. Tommy Potter, who heads the Virginia Crime Stoppers Association and works for the Isle of Wight County Sheriff ’s Office, said in an email he hopes an increased maximum tip amount would encourage more people to provide information, but the budgets of the local boards that manage the money could become financially strained. He said he liked that Cox’s legislation gives boards the option to raise the limit.