Founding Member Shares Story of Crime Stoppers of Eddy County

By Misty Cryer

After 47 years of service to an organization that helps law enforcement solve crimes, Jim Carr, a founding member of the Eddy County Crime Stoppers program, recently announced his retirement from the board. Upon his departure, he shared the story of the program's development and evolution.

Crime Stoppers of Eddy County was formed in 1978 by a bunch of local contractors from Carlsbad and the surrounding area, said Carr. "We were being vandalized, and we were having stuff stolen from our job sites," he said.

Rather than get in trouble for going to job sites at night to catch someone doing wrong, Carr said they followed the lead of the founder of the first Crime Stoppers program, Greg MacAleese. "He was a police officer for the Albuquerque Police Department," Carr said.

Using the constitution, standing rules, and bylaws of MacAleese's program, Carr said the forming group revised them to align with the aims in Carlsbad. "We changed it a little bit, but not a great deal," he said.

From there, Carr said, "We went out and started begging for money from anybody that was willing to contribute to our program, trying to get Crime Stoppers set up here." He said they were able to raise a fairly substantial reward fund.

"Once we had a reward fund, the rules, bylaws, and a constitution to operate from, we formed a board," said Carr. It was mostly contractors in the beginning, along with others willing to serve on the board, he said.

The Carlsbad Police Department, Eddy County Sheriff's Department, and Artesia Police Department were designated to receive the information that the program generated through an anonymous tip line, said Carr. "We covered everything from all felony crimes, and we added in vandalism, which was a misdemeanor, because there was a lot of vandalism going on," he said.

Carr said they offered up what was called "Crime of the Week," which was generated by one of the three law enforcement agencies seeking additional information. "We publicized it through the radio programs, the Current Argus; they posted our Crime of the Week and our contact information," he said.

If the tips led to an arrest and a binding over for trial, Carr said they would advertise a portion of the code number given to the caller. Once the person contacted Crime Stoppers and provided the full code number, he said they would deliver the reward, in cash, either face-to-face or by placing it at a location for them to retrieve.

"We were successful in aiding law enforcement with everything from homicide all the way down to vandalism," said Carr.

"We are still up and going. Sometimes you get to thinking, 'Well, the program is not doing a whole lot.' About that time, it would be instrumental in solving a particular crime and aiding law enforcement," said Carr. "We've had a lot of good people donate to Crime Stoppers through the years. Bad cases have happened," he said.

Carr explained that Crime Stoppers offers rewards of $50 to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and binding over for trial. "We do take private donations. Some of the rewards can get up there pretty hefty," he said.

As an example, he said that if Crime Stoppers offers a $5,000 reward for something really heinous, and someone else wants to throw money against it, they can contribute.

Crime Stoppers of Eddy County has a Facebook page for advertising, and memorabilia is given away to spread the word, said Carr.

Tips can be reported anonymously in several ways. The local number (575-887-1888) rolls over to the toll-free number (844-786-7227), Carr said, explaining that a communications company in Canada answers that phone. "The reason it is, is because they can't force us to divulge who, what, when, or where the phone number belonged to, so it provides more confidentially for the tipster," he said.

Tips can also be provided through P3 Tips online, accessible at eddycountycrimestoppers.com, which Carr said is based in the United States. "A person can download P3 Tips onto their phone and actually give that information online," he said.

If anyone wants to serve on the board for Crime Stoppers of Eddy County, Carr said they can attend the meeting to see what they do. "It's the second Tuesday of every month at the Carlsbad Police Department at 5:30 p.m.," he said.

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