GOOD CRIME STOPPER NEWS: NO REWARDS

Some good news came out of a recent Southeast Missouri Crime Stoppers board meeting: No rewards for crime tips were being paid.

It wasn't that no crime is taking place in the county. There just wasn't enough of the right kind of crime to pay people for information. That means police were successfully pursuing leads or had solved the most serious crimes.

As board members suggested, rewards might be scaring off potential criminals, and that means Crime Stoppers is working.

Since Crime Stoppers started about a year ago, total reward money paid for tips leading to arrests stands at $1,400, with 53 tips leading to nine arrests. Those are impressive numbers considering the infancy of the program. Crime Stoppers not only is helping police solve crimes, but appears to be thwarting it as well.