How did Crime Stoppers begin?
The Crime Stoppers movement began in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA in 1976 in an effort to solve a brutal slaying. In July that year a young university student was working at a small petrol station in town. Two weeks before his wedding he was doing the late shift to help out a friend. During the night two men robbed the station and senselessly shot and killed the young man. This was the culmination of a series of robberies against petrol stations. The detective in charge of solving the murder, Greg MacAleese, believed that the crimes had been committed by local people. He also believed that someone within the local community knew who was responsible. However, people were not willing to talk to the police, and after 6 weeks he still had no leads. Out of desperation, Detective MacAleese approached a local television network, requesting a TV reconstruction. The re-enactment offered the informants total anonymity, and a cash reward of $1,000, for information leading to the arrest of the off
In July 1976 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a university student was killed during a gas station robbery. After six weeks of investigation the police had very few leads in the case. Police Detective Greg MacAleese thought that if the people were able to observe a re-enactment of the crime on television, this might lead to someone providing valuable information. Greg MacAleese was right. A caller contacted the Police Department the next day after seeing the re-enactment. The tip information was enough to lead the police to the two men who were responsible. Within 72 hours of the re-enactment being aired, the police had solved the murder. This was the beginning of Crime Stoppers. Since the program started in 1976, there are now more than 950 Crime Stoppers programs worldwide. More than 425,000 crimes have been solved since its inception and over $2.9 billion worth of stolen property and narcotics has been seized. Locally, the Rochester Crime Stoppers program also has been very successful. I
