the program because they truly feel empowered to operate it and make decisions. This sense of autonomy and empowerment spreads to the rest of the campus community. In fact, many tipsters never claim their rewards. The SROs and the advisors never had a problem filling open board positions at the start of an academic year. “Voting with their feet” for the success of the programs, more students fill out applications compared to the amount of available board positions.

One of the best decisions the department made was to advise the campus programs to join under the umbrella of the local Crime Stoppers program while still retaining their autonomy. This move guaranteed the long-term viability of all campus programs. For example, Rockwall County Crime Stoppers pays for appreciation dinners for student board members and partially finances miscellaneous supplies. It also augments reward payments in severe crime and victimization cases.

The success of a Scholastic Crime Stoppers program is complete with the solving of major crimes on campus. This, in turn, motivates all program stakeholders even further. For example, Rockwall’s programs experienced a major boost in 1994. At the start of that school year, information provided through the high school program led to the breakup of an LSD narcotics network. According to student feedback, LSD was unavailable on campus for the remainder of the school year. In this case, to send a strong message, Rockwall County Crime Stoppers augmented the campus program’s reward payment by doubling the amount for a total of $200 for successful information.

Success becomes overwhelming when the influence of a Scholastic Crime Stoppers program reaches beyond campus boundaries. Twenty-five percent of the tips provided through Rockwall’s school programs deal with off-campus crime by nonaffiliated subjects. The familiarity with the program and the educational message of taking a stand against crime has gained strong resonance on and off campus. This positive effect even reaches beyond the students’ households to the community at large. The department’s investigators and crime prevention officers are satisfied because their workload decreases through the realization of investigative and crime prevention time savings. Overall, less crime goes unreported and more crime is solved in Rockwall’s schools making its campuses safer due to lower victimization rates following the implementation of its Scholastic Crime Stoppers programs.

CONCLUSION

Successfully implementing a Scholastic Crime Stoppers program depends on the commitment of the local law enforcement agency, campus administrators, and students, who help to prevent and solve crimes. Through its message, students learn to take a stand against crime to create a safe learning environment for themselves. The strong emphasis on student autonomy empowers them to realize the many benefits of the program while simultaneously minimizing costs, such as inaccurate tips, and privacy concerns.

Scholastic Crime Stoppers represents one of the least costly and most effective proactive campus crime prevention programs. Moreover, communities can profit from them as well. When carefully implemented, the Scholastic Crime Stoppers program’s benefits easily outweigh costs.

Endnotes

1 U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education, 1999 Annual Report on School Safety (Washington, DC, 1999), 3.

2 Officer Greg MacAleese of the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Police Department founded the first local Crime Stoppers program in 1976 in response to a heinous homicide that he and his partner were investigating at the time. See Greg MacAleese, The Crime Stoppers Story, 1993. The name Crime Stoppers was derived from the Dick Tracy comic strip. Officer MacAleese received authorization from the late artist Chester Gould to employ the Crime Stoppers name for the program. The program was an instant success. In response to this success, other agencies implemented similar programs throughout the country. Midland County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office Crime Stoppers, Crime Stoppers History, http:// nonprofit.apex2000.net/mcsocs/history.htm; accessed July 9, 2001.

3 Officer Larry Wieda of the Boulder, Colorado, Police Department took the concept of Crime Stoppers to Fairview High School in Boulder and established the first Scholastic Crime Stoppers in the nation. High School (Scholastic) Crime Stoppers, http:// www.ci.boulder.co.us/police/community/ hs_crime_stoppers.htm; accessed July 9, 2001 and Crime Stoppers International, CSI, http://www.c-s-i.org/scs.htm; accessed July 9, 2001.

4 Supra note 3 (Wieda).