Patchwork of Policies Governs Rewards for Crime Tips

One night last year in Pacoima, Liborio Medina was moving his car for street-cleaning when he spotted several vandals painting graffiti on his house. Medina, the sole breadwinner for his seven children, ordered them to stop, police say.

One of the taggers shot the 56-year-old Medina in the chest, killing him. The Los Angeles Police Department had no suspects. No witnesses stepped forward.

After a month of frustration, LAPD Det. Chuck Lenane turned to the City Council for help. Sympathetic council members agreed to post a $25,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.

Even though the killer remains at large, “it certainly gives that family confidence that the Police Department and City Council gave its best efforts to solve the crime,” says David Gershwin, spokesman for Councilman Alex Padilla, who wrote the reward motion.

Had the same crime been committed elsewhere, the response might have been different.

Many Southern California cities, including San Bernardino, Yorba Linda and Santa Ana, do not offer rewards to help solve crimes. Officials say that they simply do not have the money or that they fear it would be a problem deciding which cases warrant financial support.

In cities that do offer rewards, the amount and circumstances vary markedly.

Some local governments offer no more than $10,000 per case. Others pay membership dues to a nonprofit organization that grants rewards of up to $1,000.

In Los Angeles, captains of LAPD divisions write to the City Council to ask that a reward be posted. In Riverside, two recommendation letters from police officials must be received by council members before they consider a request.

From January 2000 through June 2001, Los Angeles offered 58 rewards totaling more than $1.5 million. So far only one of those cases, which promised a $25,000 reward, resulted in a conviction.

But in that same period, city officials paid out $266,000 in reward money related to nine earlier cases in which financial incentives paid off with convictions.

It is unclear just how many cities offer rewards. Clancy Faria of the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California believes the number is small but growing and says that public funding for rewards is beginning to supplant private donations. Traditionally, relatives, friends or employers set up such rewards, said Faria, president of the association.

“[Now] it’s the [government’s] way of trying to help,” he said. “They’re saying, ‘We also want to do what we can to catch this horrendous person.’ ”

Government rewards are often a last resort to try to elicit crucial tips from people who might otherwise not come forward for fear of retaliation.

“When you’re up against a brick wall and trying to shake some information from the community, it works sometimes,” said Det. Frank Bishop of LAPD’s Foothill Division.

Crime experts say that even if financial incentives work in only a tiny percentage of cases, they are worthwhile.

“If the money helps solve only one case out of 50, well, if it’s your kid [who had been victimized], then it’s very successful,” said Gilbert Geis, a UC Irvine professor emeritus of criminology and law.

For about two decades, the Los Angeles City Council has been offering rewards--usually $25,000 but sometimes as high as $50,000--for cases involving rape, murder and hate crimes.

Last year, the City Council also posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who cut down 14 trees planted by San Fernando Valley residents. And Los Angeles, as does Oxnard, gives rewards for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of taggers.

Riverside officials recently decided to provide reward money in attacks on people and property. No cap has been set. The policy was adopted in March in response to the pleas of Peggy Haro, whose brother was murdered in 1999 by assailants believed to have been street gang members.

In Long Beach, the highest rewards are $20,000, but only in cases where police officers have been severely attacked or slain. Officers are not more important than the public, said City Atty. Bob Shannon. But criminals who assault an armed officer pose more danger to the community, he said, since that means they would be even more likely to harm an unarmed person.

Officials in several cities say they have no set formula for posting rewards. “It’s pretty subjective,” LAPD Det. Bishop said.

That, says Santa Ana Police Sgt. Raul Luna, can lead to problems.

“Someone’s feelings are going to get hurt when they feel their individual case merits public funds,” he said.

San Bernardino officials say they just don’t have the money to offer rewards.

“San Bernardino is a much poorer city than Los Angeles,” said City Atty. James F. Penman. “We do well to get our streets paved and to get lights changed in traffic signals, but we don’t have extra money to go toward something like that.”

Sgt. David Harp, in charge of the homicide unit for the San Bernardino Police Department, said he wishes support from City Council were available. There is always a chance that reward money will tempt someone to come forward, he said.

Instead, San Bernardino pays $9,500 a year to We Tip, a Southern California organization that takes anonymous calls from tipsters and offers rewards of up to $1,000. There are 45 cities and three counties in Southern California signed up with the program.

Det. Lenane of the LAPD Foothill Division thinks that a $1,000 reward is not enough to persuade people to provide information, in some cases at risk to their lives.

At the same time, Geis of UC Irvine warns that the higher the amount, the more likely police will waste time tracking down phony leads.

“It’s a capitalistic system,” he said. “Money makes people respond.”

Haro, sister of the Riverside murder victim, said a reward is a valuable crime tool for the times it produces that one vital phone call. Even though no reward has been posted in her brother’s case, she said, the fact that such money is now available has helped her cope.

“Knowing that council members care,” she said, “has kind of eased the pain I’ve gone through over my brother’s death.”