Central Alabama CrimeStoppers Receives National Award

(May 24, 2006) -- Central Alabama CrimeStoppers has been awarded the 2006 Youth Crime Watch of America Crime Prevention Organization of the Year. Central Alabama CrimeStoppers, which oversees Youth Crime Watch programs in several local schools, received the award last week from the Alabama Youth Crime Watch Expansion Center at AUM. “We are extremely honored to be recognized for our efforts and hard work in preventing and stopping crime in school” says CrimeStopper Director Susan Moss.

Youth Crime Watch is a youth led program that promotes anonymous crime reporting and crime prevention in schools. Schools that participate in Youth Crime Watch include Carver High School, Lanier High School, Wetumpka High School, Valley High School, Georgia Washington Jr. High, Bellingrath Jr. High, McIntyre Middle School, and Selma Police Athletic Club.

Moss says that tips from the anonymous crime reporting system have resulted in the confiscation of weapons and drugs at participating schools creating a safer learning environment for students and teachers. “The system is successful because it allows the students a safe and secret outlet to report criminal activity without the fear of retaliation. We promote the fact that reporting crime is the responsible thing to do. Most students want to clean their schools and neighborhoods of crime and this gives them that opportunity without being called a “snitch” by their peers.”

Central Alabama CrimeStoppers, a non profit organization, has assisted law enforcement agencies in Montgomery, Autauga, and Elmore Counties in solving more than 600 unsolved cases since 1997.