Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Program Increases Reward To Help Combat Crime In Greensboro/Guilford County

City police officers direct traffic in downtown Greensboro. KERI BROWN/WFDD

A program that helps solve crimes in Guilford County is marking 40 years in the community.

Greensboro/Guilford County Crime Stoppers gathers anonymous tips and offers cash rewards. And now, city leaders recently approved funds to provide more incentives.

It's a partnership between community volunteers and local law enforcement.

The program rewards anonymous tips that lead to an arrest, the seizure of stolen property or illegal narcotics, or the solution to unsolved crimes. 

The grant will be used to increase the maximum payout from up to $2,000 to up to $5,000.

“No tip is too small and just for the families out here that don't have any closure, we hope that people will be more inclined to call us now and give us the tips, so we can give to detectives and hopefully solve some of these cases, especially the homicides,” says Stacey Finch, a Crime Stoppers coordinator with the Greensboro Police Department.

Since its inception, around 40,000 tips have been submitted and 9,000 cases have been solved. 

Last year, Greensboro had a record number of 61 homicides. So far this year, it's a little over half that.

Finch says that includes two recent shooting incidents that claimed the lives of two teenagers who both were students at Dudley High School.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate