Crime Stoppers Numbers Up in First Quarter

By Benjamin Cox on April 6, 2022 at 8:48am

The Morgan, Scott, Cass Crime Stoppers had a great start to the first quarter of this year.

Tips, arrests, and cases solved saw a slight dip at the end of the first quarter of last year. Crime Stoppers Coordinator Loren Hamilton says a combination of several things saw all of those categories jump back up to start this year: “Due to the nature of the beast, we cannot really attribute if the additional tips come from Cass County, Morgan County, Scott County because of the anonymity. What I can tell you though is our three new board members in Cass County have hit the ground running over there. They tell me that there is a lot of buzz on the streets about Crime Stoppers in Cass County now. I think the combination of that, our podcast, and our cellphone app all have attributed to the increased numbers.”

Hamilton says a number of individuals posted to the group’s Facebook page and website turned themselves in after being featured. He says individuals who turn themselves in is currently not something that they keep track of, but it does help Crime Stoppers’ main goal of getting crimes solved and criminals held accountable in the local court systems.

Over $2,700 worth of stolen property was recovered in the first quarter. 2 cases were solved and 9 arrests were made during that same time frame. Hamilton says that in the next quarter that Crime Stoppers hopes to be more visible in the community once again now that Covid-19 has subsided: “We are going to try our Trivia Night again that we had to postpone in January. We are talking about scheduling a Bingo night in Beardstown. National Night Out we are planning on bringing back this year in August here in Jacksonville. Just getting back to meeting people face to face in the community is something that we are really going to focus on in the next several months.”

The re-scheduled trivia at Bogart’s Banquet Hall in Jacksonville is set for Saturday, April 23rd with doors opening at 6PM. Team registration can be emailed to morganscott2010@hotmail.com. Teams are set at 10 people per team. Cost is $10 per person. Hamilton says he hopes the trivia night is a kick off of a great Spring and Summer for Crime Stoppers.