DRUG TIPS DRAIN COFFERS

Crime Stoppers Hit With Rewards

While Wichita Falls Crime Stoppers rides high on a tidal wave of drug tips,
it thrashes against a financial undercurrent slowly dragging it into
bankruptcy.

During the last three years, swelling numbers of narcotics tips have
generated higher award amounts for tipsters, a big payoff for investigators
and a throbbing financial headache for the 24 members of the Crime Stoppers
Board of Directors, program coordinator Melvin Joyner said.

"We're definitely paying out more than we're taking in. We've got a little
bit we've built over the years, and we're having to use that," he said.

Crime Stoppers bases award amounts on factors such as the number of crimes
solved by the tip, the amount of drugs/property confiscated and the number
of people arrested. Because narcotics tips tend to qualify in all three
areas, award amounts average $400 to $1,000 for each narcotics tip, Joyner
said.

That's great news for city drug investigators.

"We get tips daily, and they really help us," a narcotics spokesman said.
"You name it, we get it. It varies from meth, marijuana, cocaine and LSD -
anything and everything."

In many ways, the wave of tips thrills Crime Stoppers organizers. Treasurer
Paul Cooke, serving his seventh year on the board, said it's obvious the
non-profit organization is doing a bang-up job.

Unfortunately, he added, it doesn't see a penny of proceeds from solved crimes.

"The fact we're paying out rewards is proof the program works. A lot of our
rewards over the last couple of years has been these meth labs," he said.
"Nobody gets anything for it. When somebody is arrested and they have the
cash on them, the police can seize that cash. It goes into law enforcement
budgets, not into ours."

Joyner said that's the way it should be, even though it's hard to watch
busts like a recent one that landed $96,000 in drugs and cash.

"We didn't see any of it, but we still gave out a $1,000 reward," he said.

Crime Stoppers already handed out $16,800 since January, including rewards
for 33 drug tips. Last year, the organization awarded $44,250 to tipsters.

"I can already tell 2001 is going to exceed that," Joyner said.

Cooke said the board agreed to work harder to raise money, possibly
changing moneymaking strategies from the golf tournaments, garage sales and
sponsorships used in the past.

"We're just not able to raise enough funds to pay that kind of money," he
said. "I haven't seen the bottom line. We have been talking about, for the
last several years, having to do something else."

Part of the challenge comes from wrangling with other non-profit
organizations for money, Cooke said.

"I guess that's one of the biggest challenges we've got is continually
looking for ways to raise the funds," he said. "We're all competing for the
same charity dollars."

Despite obstacles, Cooke said the board would persevere.

"It saddens me that I can see it is a worthy cause and yet we're always
having to search for funds to do it," he said.

Joyner said he'd try to enjoy Crime Stoppers' success, despite its
uncertain future.

"We do encourage citizens to call in, because that's what Crime stoppers is
here for," he said.