Crime Stoppers of Eddy County Seeks to Increase Awareness

By Misty Cryer

For over 40 years, Crime Stoppers of Eddy County has provided a vital service to the county’s residents. With the growth of Carlsbad, the evolution of advertising, and rising costs, knowledge that the program exists is no longer as common as it used to be.

“Crime Stoppers’ mission is to encourage the community to give information to help law enforcement solve crimes and provide the community an anonymous way of communicating to help protect them,” said Scott Tindall, Board President.

Regarding specific crimes, one method that the organization uses for outreach is advertising information provided by local law enforcement agencies. “For instance, we try to run something called the ‘Crime of the Week.’ We have also worked with members of the community in the past when there have been large-scale crimes,” said Tindall.

As an example, he said several years ago, there was someone in the county shooting and killing cattle on ranchers’ lands. The organization received money in escrow to offer as an additional incentive to try to find out who was randomly killing cows. To bring awareness to the community, he said they advertised and promoted it for several months.

“While we did not get anyone to come forward and tell us who was doing the crime or give us any information that led to an arrest, we noticed that after the advertising campaign, the crime stopped,” said Tindall.

He said there have been a few crimes like that. “We’ve had some oilfield companies come to us in the past and asked us to put out advertising towards the oilfield thefts that are so common in our neck of the woods.”

Crime Stoppers of Eddy County provides several methods for the community to submit tips on crimes. “Right now, you can call, and there is a call center that answers the phone,” said Tindall. “They do not ask for personally identifiable information. They take the information you’ve got, and they will submit it to our anonymous system.”

The tip system, Tindall said, is a phone app. “It also works on our website.” He said that when people click “submit a tip,” they are taken to a webpage where they can enter the information themselves. “You can return to it and put in your tip number and update your tip and law enforcement can respond back to you in the same tip system, so you can have a two-way communication with law enforcement.”

He added that the company that wrote the system specifically designed it not to retain any identifiable information.

The program was started in the late ‘70s and has run consistently since then, being reorganized to become a nonprofit, Tindall said. “We have gotten successful tips in the past,” he said, adding that the program has brought people to justice, so it is out there doing some good for the community.

In recent years, Tindall said some board members have volunteered to participate in events like Halloween in Carlsbad and Art in the Park in Artesia, handing out candy and promotional items. “We always accept donations,” he said, adding that they can use those donations to hand rewards out to people who submit tips that lead to arrests and to help fund advertising for the information that the organization receives from law enforcement.

“Really, I think with programs like Crime Stoppers, unless you have a really large community that’s donating a ton of money for advertising, I think our biggest problem is getting the word out that we are there,” said Tindall.

The organization is 100% volunteer-based and is funded by donations and endowments, Tindall explained. He said they received a small amount of funds from another Crime Stoppers program that closed. “Hopefully in the future, we will be investment funded.”