Crime Stoppers works, but witnesses still needed

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Crime Stoppers generates hundreds of tips that can lead to hundreds of arrests, but in many cases, a tip isn't enough.

Greg Lewis has been running the Greater Fort Wayne Crime Stoppers for the last ten years. The agency, which pays money for tips leading to felony arrests, relies on funding from grants and donations.

"Take people off the street at no cost to the taxpayers in Allen County," Lewis said.

While he's located in Fort Wayne, Lewis gets tips about crimes in nearly a dozen counties and will pass the information along to the appropriate law enforcement agency. In 2012, Crime Stoppers got 824 tips, which helped lead police to 314 arrests. Those arrests were for a total of 403 felony charges and 391 misdemeanor charges.

But, for some crimes, like homicides and armed robberies, anonymous tips are only part of the strategy in catching the criminal.

"A Crime Stoppers tip isn't admissible in court," Lewis said. "It's a lead, a place to go look. A lot of times where there's smoke, there's fire. Crime Stoppers works very well, but even with all that, people have to come forward."

By 'come forward,' Lewis means talking to police investigators and possibly testifying in court. In many cases, police know who committed the crime, but without people willing to testify, charges wouldn't hold up in court.

"We know who did it. We can't prove it, but we know who did it," Lewis said.

Lewis is a retired police officer with more than 40 years in law enforcement. He wasn't surprised by the 30 homicides in Fort Wayne and Allen County in 2012. Of those, only three had arrests made. He said crime won't start to go down until the community starts helping police.

"The attitude is, 'I don't want to get involved,'" Lewis said, citing several homicides that happened in crowded places and people told police they didn't see anything. "You're the one living in that neighborhood. If you won't help us, how are we supposed to help you."

If anyone has any information about a crime, they can call Crime Stoppers at (260) 436-STOP or 800-237-STOP or leave a tip on the Crime Stoppers website .

"Please get involved. Take the time to make a phone call. You can start with me. With me it's anonymous. I don't ask for your name. But, if I'm telling you that look at least talk to an investigator about this, maybe there's something there in your story. But, to do nothing you're accomplishing nothing. This is not going to stop it's going to get worse," Lewis said.