Anti-Crime Group Going Broke Paying Off Tipsters : Law enforcement: The program’s success depletes reward money. Volunteers who seek donations find that the bad economy is taking its toll.

It’s an anonymous tip police yearn for but rarely get:

“Some dudes I know said they’re going to smoke some guys . . . Saturday night behind a grocery store in Thousand Oaks.”

The tip is fictitious--a radio ad that several stations play at no charge for Ventura County Crime Stoppers. The group offers anonymity and up to a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the filing of charges in a felony.

So far, the Ventura County Crime Stoppers has never paid a reward for a tip that prevented a violent crime. But the group just paid its first $1,000 reward, for arrests stemming from a homicide case, and tips are way up in the past six months.

In fact, the group is so successful that it’s going broke.

A growing number of tips are leading to charges being filed, hence more rewards must be paid. At the same time, group volunteers who beat on the doors of corporations, service clubs and businesses throughout the county are finding it more difficult than ever to compete with other nonprofit groups for donations.

But officials have vowed to keep the reward money flowing as long as callers continue to fight crime with their telephones.

“If Crime Stoppers solves just one homicide case, I think they’ve paid their dues and are a real asset to the community,” said Ronald Janes, supervisor of the major-crimes and narcotics units of the Ventura County district attorney’s office.

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The $1,000 reward was paid Thursday to a tipster whose call led to the arrest of three men and a juvenile in connection with the slaying of a Santa Barbara man.

In another Port Hueneme homicide, however, a Crime Stoppers tip led to the arrest of several men who later had to be released for lack of sufficient evidence, police said.

“The positive side of these anonymous tips is that they point investigators in the right direction,” Janes said. “They can then check fingerprints and records of potential suspects. But the downside is that the tips aren’t good for an awful lot more than that--they clearly are not admissible evidence in court.”

However, he and several police detectives said the tips that callers offer to Crime Stoppers are sometimes crucial in persuading the district attorney’s office, and then a judge, that a search warrant is justified.

Since Crime Stoppers began in Thousand Oaks six years ago, callers have helped police solve about 250 felony cases, Crime Stoppers officials said. Most were related to narcotics violations, vandalism, burglary or other thefts.

Last year 30 callers helped police make about 60 arrests and were offered combined rewards of $9,800 for their tips, though nine of those callers left $2,650 in rewards unclaimed. In all, Crime Stoppers received about 370 calls last year.

During 1991, Crime Stoppers expanded from Thousand Oaks to law enforcement agencies in Moorpark, Camarillo and Port Hueneme.

Though pleased with their statistics, especially for a county that has one of the lowest crime rates in the western United States, Crime Stoppers officials say they are getting tips from only a fraction of all crime witnesses.

Police say callers range from prison inmates and friends of criminals to honest citizens who offer information but shun the reward money. Crime Stoppers officials say criminals will gladly turn one another in if the price is right. Collecting a reward can be like dialing for dollars if the tipster’s information is specific enough.

In Thousand Oaks and Moorpark, group volunteers have begun direct mail advertising. They’re sending flyers explaining Crime Stoppers and its rewards to people arrested in those cities. The theory is that crooks know other crooks.

One such Crime Stoppers flyer sent out recently asks, “Need cash for the holidays? Want a special gift for a special person? Want to take a trip to some place warm for the holidays? Crime Stoppers pays cash for information!”

The December flyer continues: “Drug dealers are always good for a few bucks. Figure this as ‘trade in your old dealer month.’ ”

The flyer lists typical Crime Stoppers awards. Identify a bank robber: $900. Snitch on a burglar: $400. ID a drug dealer in possession of $20,000 in drugs: $600. Rat on a car thief: $400.

When people call with tips about a specific crime or suspect, they are given a code number to use during all future contacts with Crime Stoppers. Police investigate the information and the tipster is asked to call back to check the results.

Crime Stoppers officials say they are occasionally criticized for offering reward money, which some see as reminiscent of the days of the bounty hunter. “In a nutshell, the program caters to the greedy side of society,” says Officer Ken Dobbe, Crime Stoppers coordinator for the Port Hueneme Police Department.

However, he said, “some people will not call without the reward. In fact, some callers keep phoning back to find out if they’re eligible for a reward. Some want to know what kind of reward they could get before they give us any information.”

Crime Stoppers radio advertising launched last year, combined with newspaper and occasional TV ads, has raised public awareness of the program and has led to a steadier flow of calls each week and more useful information, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Kitty Hoberg, who is the countywide coordinator of Crime Stoppers.

After Crime Stoppers’ first radio ad aired last February, Hoberg said, calls more than tripled--from a high of 10 a month to more than 30. In the six months that followed, Crime Stoppers’ board of directors paid out as much in rewards as in all of the previous year.

Now the group appears to be at risk of becoming a victim of its success.

As fund raising has been made all the more difficult by a sour economy, Crime Stoppers’ coffers have begun to dry up. “It’s so dry at this point we couldn’t afford to pay on the second homicide case” if charges are eventually filed, said one group member.

Bob Coffey, an Oxnard real estate broker and president of the Crime Stoppers’ board of directors, predicted that the group must raise close to $25,000 in the coming year, given the increase in solid tips. The 20-member board meets once a month to decide the amounts that tipsters will be rewarded.

To keep the program afloat, Crime Stoppers officials have begun to plan fund-raisers, perhaps including a golf tournament. The organization may be strapped, Coffey said, “but we’ll go out and beg on street corners if we have to.”

FYI

People who have information that could help solve a serious crime can call Crime Stoppers at 494-TALK in Moorpark and Thousand Oaks, 987-TALK in Camarillo and 986-TALK in Port Hueneme. Callers can remain anonymous and still collect rewards if their tip leads to the filing of charges. Donations to Crime Stoppers can be made by sending a check payable to Ventura County Crime Stoppers, P.O. Box 7303, Thousand Oaks CA 91359.