For those with tips, crime can pay

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

Metro Detective Mike Hope doesn't like putting his callers on hold. The second he presses that HOLD button on his timeworn telephone the caller starts, well, wigging.

"Freaking out," Hope says.

This is what happens when your job involves answering the Crime Stoppers tip line, where callers absolutely don't want to be identified and information about a crime can mean cash rewards.

Anonymous cash rewards , because nobody wants to be outed as a snitch.

"Sometimes they just panic and hang up," Hope says.

Crime Stoppers of Nevada has slipped almost $1.4 million in unmarked white envelopes for thousands of tipsters since 1979.

Among the more than 154,000 calls Crime Stoppers operators have taken in the past 28 years, a good tip - a tip that leads to an arrest or an arrest warrant - is a relative rarity.

Only about one in every 14 tips provides enough solid information to earn a reward. Of those 11,000 or so callers, roughly three of 10 have actually collected the cash.

This is because they didn't care about the money, Hope says, or they were too scared to collect.

So you put a scared caller on hold and he starts thinking: Maybe I'm being traced? The phone's being tapped? The call's being recorded?

Click.

Roughly 40 percent of the tips that come in have something to do with narcotics. And sometimes the information is too good, like: "You'll find the stash in the second drawer from the bottom, stuffed in a Crown Royal bag."

But even if the tip implicates the caller, Hunt, who has served as Crime Stoppers director for three years, can't do anything. On this point, he's emphatic: For better or for worse, every call is utterly anonymous.

Here is how it works: You see something, you know something, you call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555. The operator picks up. You give your tip, you get a tip number. (Say, tip number 1234.) Your tip is forwarded to the appropriate Metro department, which lets Hunt know if it ever leads to an arrest or warrant. But because the operator doesn't know who you are, No. 1234, it's up to you to call in and find out whether your information will be rewarded.

How much you are paid depends on your tip. The biggest payout goes to information about homicide cases: $2 , 000. Robbery information can fetch $1,000. A tip about a simple property crime nets about $250.

Crime Stoppers is an international non profit organization, and the money comes solely from locally collected donations. Metro always wants more, but won't disclose how much is in it s coffers.

Tipsters eligible for rewards are dispatched to an undisclosed bank, where they will be directed to sidle up to the counter and share their tip number. ("Good afternoon, I'm tip No. 1234.")

The counter person will expect you. He will slide over the envelope, which you will sign for - with only your tip number - and walk away with. Done.

The Crime Stoppers office, which is staffed by two people during the day and a small group of overnight operators, typically receives 1,200 to 1,300 calls a month, most of which come late at night.

Someone is always calling, Hope says. "And someone always picks up."