We celebrated 25 years of our office’s partnership with the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers to help fight crime. This has been an incredible partnership where we have worked together to help solve thousands of dangerous, complicated crimes and also provide much-needed answers to families about their loved ones.
Since 2011, more than $12.6 million has been approved to go to tipsters for information that led to more than 42,700 arrests.
Our law enforcement officers do a great job keeping the peace and stopping criminals, but as you all know, they can’t be everywhere at once. We can also do our part to report crime and have law enforcement’s back.
Our communities are only as strong as we want to make them. When you are living in a free society, under a rule of law governed of the people, by the people and for the people, you have to have people participating in making our communities safe.
We have made great strides in the last several years to simplify and modernize anonymous reporting to encourage even more tipsters to come forward with pertinent information. We launched our anonymous crime reporting line, **TIPS, in 2020. Instead of having to know which of the 27 regional numbers to call, someone wishing to report information about a crime now just has to dial this easy-to-remember number to be connected automatically. Since then, Crime Stoppers USA has modeled our initiative and taken it nationwide. We also nearly doubled the potential award money for tips that lead to solved murder cases—from $5,000 to $9,500!
While we have done much over the last quarter century, remember that our work is far from over. And now during these heightened times worldwide, we need the community’s help to strengthen public safety. The FBI is experiencing increased reports of suspicious activity nationwide. So please, if you see something, say something. You can report suspicious activity to 1(855) FLA-SAFE or simply dial **TIPS to report information anonymously.
By being aware of your surroundings and reporting crime, you can help us build a Stronger, Safer Florida.
Original source can be found here.