Central Alabama CrimeStoppers Celebrates 10 Years

CrimeStopper Founder, Greg MacAleese, To Visit Montgomery

Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Honored

(May 1, 2007) -- A small group of business leaders, law enforcement officers, media, and concerned citizens held their first official meeting for Montgomery Area CrimeStoppers (now known as Central Alabama CrimeStoppers). Ten years to the date, May 7, 2007, a big celebration is going to be held to commemorate 10 years of taking criminals off the streets of Central Alabama. Central Alabama CrimeStoppers is hosting a 10th Anniversary Celebration Luncheon at Embassy Suites in Montgomery from 11:30AM-1PM. Current and past board members will be attending as well as members of local law enforcement agencies and other community leaders. Since 1997, anonymous tipsters to CrimeStoppers hotline have solved 942 cases and helped capture almost 500 wanted criminals. CrimeStoppers has paid $36,780 in reward money. Former WSFA News Anchor and Reporter Beth Jett will be the Master of Ceremonies and CrimeStoppers Founder, Greg MacAleese, will be the keynote speaker.

Working as a violent crimes detective with the Albuquerque Police Department in 1976, MacAleese was convinced that a lack of public involvement was a major reason for the city's exceptionally high crime rate. He identified two major reasons why most citizens did not want to get involved in fighting crime - fear and apathy. He designed CrimeStoppers to specifically attack these two problems. An anonymous tip line helped ease people's fear of retaliation and a reward program helped to overcome apathy. MacAleese wanted to make his program, which he named CrimeStoppers, to be very high profile so he asked for the media to profile unsolved cases. The first "crime of the week" was the killing of a young gas station attendant and it was solved within 48 hours after the reenactment was shown on television. In the first year of operation 298 major cases were solved through calls from citizens. CrimeStoppers would later be used as a model for "America's Most Wanted" and "Unsolved Mysteries". Currently, MacAleese travels the world promoting CrimeStopper programs. He has also produced a number of television specials about crime. He is a very active inventor and holds four patents on technologies designed for law enforcement and military.

Jett was the driving force behind starting Montgomery CrimeStoppers. In 1997, she had recently moved from Huntsville and was inspired by their CrimeStopper program. With WSFA backing her, she gathered some community leaders and law enforcement officers and they formed the non profit organization that has taken hundreds of criminals off the streets in the tri-county area, empowering citizens to take an active role in stopping crime. WSFA TV has aired a "Crime of the Week" for the last decade.

At the luncheon, Central Alabama CrimeStoppers will recognize Cpl. Guy Naquin of Montgomery Police Department as the 2006 CrimeStopper Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Cpl. Naquin has been employed with MPD for 12 years and has been with the Robbery/Homicide Bureau for 10 years. Cpl. Naquin has worked numerous death investigations, serious shootings, and several homicides. On September 28, 2006, Police Officer Keith Houts was shot multiple times during a traffic stop. Officer Houts later died as a result of his injuries. Cpl. Naquin was assigned case agent in this offense. He was able to identify the suspect in a matter of hours and signed warrants on Mario Woodward. Woodward was taken into custody in Atlanta, Georgia several hours later. Due to Cpl. Naquin's hard work and relentless pursuit of the suspect a killer is off the streets. Other Law Enforcement Officers who were nominated for the 2006 CrimeStopper Law Enforcement Officer of the Year are: Deputy Jason Chambers, Elmore County Sheriff's Office; Cpl. Chris Deputy, Wetumpka Police Department; Sgt. Gary Graves, Prattville Police Department; Deputy Stan Hinson, Elmore County Sheriff's Office; Deputy Larry McDuffie, Autauga County Sheriff's Office; Cpl. Johnny Russell, Millbrook Police Department; Deputy Ricky Thompson, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.