La Plata, MD.—If you do the crime you do the time. In this instance, if you give the tip, you can get paid. The Charles County Sheriff’s Office and Charles County Crime Solvers need the help of the community to hold criminals accountable for their crimes.
Crime Solvers is offering money [up to $1,000] if the information a member of the community gives leads to an arrest or indictment.
“I grew up in Charles County as a young woman, I believe as a county, we are very fortunate to have this program. We also have 200 percent support from Charles County Sheriffs Office and Sheriff Troy Berry,” said Betty Turner, who is a life member of the Crime Solvers organization.
Turner has been with Crime Solvers since June, 1991, and still attends the meetings when they occur. Turner is currently the President of the South Eastern Crime Stoppers [SECS]. She has recently been awarded with the President’s Award from the SECS. Turner is such an important piece to this organization that she has earned the nickname, “Mother of everything Crime Solvers.”
“I am a life member. Nearly 25 years’ experience with the Crime Solvers. We have a model organization with Charles County Crime Solvers. We concern ourselves with the safety of our community and we pride ourselves in knowing we are helping the Charles County community,” said Turner.
Crime Solvers also addressed the issue of keeping the tipster anonymity concealed. Crime Solvers has gone to great lengths to provide anonymity. For example, when a tipster calls the Crime Solver number, the call information is routed to a number in Canada. Then it is relayed back to Charles County Sheriff’s Office and not made public.
“The program is to promote people working with the police to apprehend criminals.
What we do is pick certain cases that we like to highlight to let the community know that they can receive money just by turning someone in that has to do with a criminal offense,” said Bud Humbert who is a life member of Crime Solver.
“This is an exciting organization that takes crime off the street. I have been a member for 20 plus years and I can’t thank the Jaycees and Lions Club enough for their backing through all the years,” said Wayne Magoon who is a life member of Crime Solvers.
The Lions Club and the Waldorf Jaycees have supported the Crime Solvers since the very beginning. Crime Solvers counts on these organizations’ funds to be able to keep the Charles County community safe. In addition Crime Solvers has their annual trap shoot and golf tournament to bring more funding in.
“Crime Solvers is a valuable investigative tool for our agency. Our officers and investigators have made plenty of arrests based on tips received through the program. There are, however, some cases in which the tip is not enough to make an arrest, but were just glad people care enough to call,” said Sheriff Troy Berry of Charles County Sheriff’s Office.
Berry is in support of the Crime Solvers program, just like his predecessors, because it works and benefits Charles County.
“The Board of Directors for Crime Solvers is comprised of people who volunteer their time to raise the reward monies paid to tipsters. The Board does an incredible job promoting the Crime Solvers program and ensuring the program is sustained,” said Berry.
Photos provided by Diane Richardson Public Information Officer of Charles County Sheriff’s Office
Contact Charles Seifert at c.seifert@thebaynet.com
