Turning In Classmates Toting Guns Is Paying Off in Memphis

Capt. William Cox couldn’t tell if the child’s voice on the other end of the telephone line belonged to a boy or girl. When they are that young, it is hard to know, he said.

The Ross Elementary School student called Weapon Watch to report that a 10-year-old classmate had brought a gun and knife to school in her book bag that day.

“She was mad at somebody,” the voice said when asked why the girl decided to pack a pistol in among her books, note pads and pencils. “It isn’t the first time she brought it.”

“Well we don’t want her shooting anybody,” Cox replied before assigning the anonymous tipster a code number and asking the student to call him in the morning for more instructions.

By turning in a fellow classmate, the youngster may have just earned $50 under Weapon Watch, a program recently implemented by the Memphis City School District to get children involved in ridding their schools of crime. Believed to be the only hot line of its kind in the country, students are rewarded if they give police information that leads to the confiscation of weapons and, in almost all cases, the arrest of the classmates who bring them on campus.

Since the program began in the 104,000-pupil district in November, more than 500 calls have come in--resulting in the recovery of more than 70 weapons and the arrest of nearly 70 students.

Among those turned in have been a 9-year-old carrying a knife and an 11-year-old with a sawed-off rifle. Officials have confiscated dozens of guns--including a 9-millimeter pistol, a 380-millimeter automatic and a .38-caliber revolver--along with an assortment of knives, razors and other weapons.

And the phones at 528-CASH haven’t stopped ringing.

“It is a positive program and it is working,” said Luvenia Lemmons, president of the Memphis Council of PTAs, who supported its implementation. “At first, people were against it because they thought it was snitching. But not having to turn in their names has helped remove that stigma.”

The program was approved last year by a task force on school violence. Instead of buying metal detectors like other districts have done, Memphis officials decided to get students to weed out the weapons.

The school district joined forces with the Memphis Police Department and Crime Stoppers, a group that financially rewards citizens for calling in tips about crimes. Students who call in are given a secret code number. Once they get a call, police are dispatched to the school and officers conduct an investigation. If a weapon is found, Cox makes arrangements to secretly meet and pay off the informant.

Weapon Watch’s success has prompted nearby districts to join in. “We look at it as an ounce of prevention,” said James E. Hayslip, public relations director for the Shelby County school district on the outskirts of Memphis.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has gotten in on Weapon Watch by tracking the confiscated weapons as part of a nationwide effort to crack down on juveniles carrying guns. The guns will be traced to determine who the owners are and whether the weapons were stolen.

“I think the program has had an effect and a good effect,” said Cox, a 30-year veteran officer who is in charge of Weapon Watch. “I think it is something of the future, something all cities could use. It is here to stay.”