After two murders within the past year in close proximity of Eastern Michigan University, Crime
Stoppers of Michigan is urging people to speak up with any information that can lead to the arrests of those responsible for the homicides of EMU students Julia Niswender and Demarius Reed.
Communications Manager Shirley Schuler of Crime Stoppers Detroit explains that Crime Stoppers is a nonprofit organization that works closely with communities to get anonymous tips to law enforcement.
A lot of the public is not aware of how Crime Stoppers work, according to Schuler, and it sometimes can prevent people from bringing in tips to the organization.
Crime Stoppers offers a $2,500 reward on all cases that they are involved in. A lot of times, other people or organizations add their own money to that $2,500 reward to make speaking up a bigger incentive.
“When someone calls the hotline, that person is given a code number in order to remain 100 percent anonymous,” Schuler said. “There is no caller ID, and then they are asked to call back a week or two later for a follow up on their lead. The person must have their code number for the follow up phone call. At that time the person with the tip would be told whether or not their tip lead to an arrest, or if they need to keep calling back to check in. If an arrest has been made in the case they are told where to go to pick up their money.”
Not every tip leads to the full cash reward. The tips that are credible go through what is known at Crime Stoppers as a Reward Court. There are judges in this court who decide how much money each tipster gets for his or her tip.
According to Schuler, only about 20 to 30 percent of tipsters decide to benefit from the cash rewards. Most people call the tip lines to help their communities.
There are three ways to submit a tip. The first way is to call 1-800-Speak-Up (1-800-773-7587).
The hotline is run out of Canada. Since the U.S. law enforcement has no jurisdiction there, people are safe to anonymously submit a tip to the Crime Stoppers hotline.
The second way is to go to the Crime Stoppers website, 1800speakup.org. Schuler said the website is encrypted and nobody can see email addresses. But Crime Stoppers can email people back to ask questions through the website, unlike the hotline.
The third way is to text CSM along with your tip to CRIMES (274637).
There is also a law, according to Schuler, stating that law enforcement cannot take their files. Even if police were to take their files, they do not have any identifying information on the tipsters.
Schuler reiterated several times that there is no risk to the tipster calling in. Crime Stoppers is not law enforcement. There is no risk of calling and then being forced to testify in a case.
“I don’t personally know how Crime Stoppers works,” Floyd Watkins, a biology major, said. “It’s not really something they fill you in on. If I knew the process, I would feel perfectly fine submitting a tip about a crime. In the end, it will keep people safe from crime by leaving one less criminal on the streets.”
Jeff Fuerstnau, who is a senior majoring in security administrations at EMU, said he would report a crime to Crime Stoppers if he felt that he or someone he knew would be harmed, because of the anonymity. Otherwise, he would report it to the police, and said he has reported crimes to the police in the past.
Crime Stoppers is offering a $15,000 reward for tips that catch the person or persons who are responsible for the murder of Demarius Reed and a $5,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest or arrests of the person or persons who are responsible for the murder of Julia Niswender.
