Police

CrimeStoppers began in 1976 when a police officer in Albuquerque , New Mexico read about a group called "CrimeStoppers" in the comic strip Dick Tracey. In the comic version, the CrimeStoppers were a group of Junior G-Men who helped the Detective Tracey solve crimes. The officer, Greg MacAleese, contacted the cartoonist Chester Gould, and obtained permission to use the name Crimestoppers for a similar real-life program. As a result, one of the most successful citizen-law enforcement groups was started.

There are now more than 800 Crimestoppers organizations located in the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam, and the foreign countries of Mexico, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. And there's a Crimestoppers located here which serves Ruston and Lincoln Parish.

Crimestoppers is confidential. Crimestoppers of Ruston will pay up to $1000 for information leading to an arrest and/or indictment of a criminal. If you have information about a crime or a criminal, call Crimestoppers. DO NOT GIVE YOUR NAME. Tell the person who answers the phone that you have information about a crime or criminal. You will then be given an identification number. This number is unique to you, so don't forget it. You'll have to have it in order to collect your reward. If the information you give results in an arrest or indictment against the criminal, then you are eligible for a reward. Call Crimestoppers again with your identification number, and you will be told how to collect your reward.

Crimestoppers has been praised by all levels of law enforcement as a major deterrent to criminal activities, and a positive force in making communities a safer place in which to live.

REMEMBER, Crimestoppers doesn't want your name, just your information.

The Ruston / Lincoln Crime Stoppers website can be found at http://www.rustonlincolncrimestoppers.com