South Bend Area Crime Stoppers History

The South Bend Area Crime Stoppers program was incorporated in 1983 in South Bend, Indiana. South Bend was chosen because of its being the media center for Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. The program covers a total of 13 counties in Indiana and Michigan. Those counties in Indiana are: St. Joseph, Elkhart, Kosciusko, Marshall, Starke, Porter, Pulaski, Lagrange, and LaPorte. In Michigan they are: St. Joseph, Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren. All of these counties have an active Crime Stoppers program which is considered an affiliate of the South Bend Area Crime Stoppers.

Informants can call information to the South Bend Area Crime Stoppers program about any felony crime which has occurred anywhere in our 13 county area, or for that fact, anywhere in the world. We will take that information and relay it by Telephone, Fax, Mail, and now E-Mail. The caller to Crime Stoppers will receive a caller code number which will allow us to track the tip in our files. The caller code number also allows the caller to contact Crime Stoppers at a later date, and we can let them know if a case has been solved, and if a reward is waiting for them.

Since the South Bend Area Crime Stoppers is a Not-For-Profit 501 (c) Corporation, all donations to the Crime Stoppers program are tax deductible. All funds donated to the Crime Stoppers program go into a central reward fund which is used to pay the rewards in our Crime Stoppers Area. A donation can not be marked for a specific case by a donor.

The maximum reward that the South Bend Area Crime Stoppers program will pay is $1000. This amount is regulated by our By-Laws. It has been determined that if an informant will come forward for money, they will come forward for $1000. A larger reward often times will delay the police receiving information, because the person with the information becomes greedy and will wait for a "better" price. When a family or business puts up a $50,000 reward they usually say upon arrest and conviction. Crime Stoppers pays its reward upon arrest or indictment of the suspect involved.

Our Board of Directors meets twice monthly to review cases and award rewards to callers who have led investigators to the solving of a felony case with an arrest, or who have given information to police which leads to the arrest of felony fugitives.

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