Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott, & Cass counties had another successful quarter.
Second quarter 2022 statistics were released on Thursday showing that cases solved and arrests were up based on tips to the group from the public between April 1st and June 30th.
Tips received were down for the quarter. Coordinator Loren Hamilton says that the quarter faced an uphill battle after a huge first quarter of the year: “You have to keep in mind that the first quarter numbers that we posted were probably our best since our inception of the program. We had almost a two-thirds increase in tips in the first quarter this year. Heading in to this quarter, we were going up against some pretty hefty numbers.”
Hamilton says that activity has remained steady with their Facebook Page, but their cellphone app has really taken off: “The mobile app has been a big surprise…a good surprise. There’s activity almost every day from the app.”
Hamilton says that he has seen some increased activity on tips and interaction in Cass County since the Crime Stoppers board installed new members earlier this year. Hamilton says the other encouraging sign that Crime Stoppers is helping the community is the number of dollars in property recovered went up $640 from the previous quarter: “I think the dollar amount of the property recovered and narcotics recovered has been encouraging. I know through the last few months we’ve had some major property crimes – tools, trailers, and things of that nature stolen. To get some of that property recovered and returned to its proper owners has been really encouraging.”
Hamilton says the third quarter has already started off on a good note with a few recent tips about some unsolved crimes have produced leads for local law enforcement.