Asheville Buncombe Crime Stoppers

Crime Stoppers - 202 Haywood St Asheville, NC 28801(828) 250-6670

The Crime Stoppers program has experienced tremendous growth in the past year. In 1999, the board authorized approximately $2,000.00 in reward money. In previous years, this figure grew to an astronomical $25,000.00. An increase in advertising efforts has accounted for this growth. Currently the Crime Stoppers program has agreements with local media to help catch criminals. WLOS and the local government channel currently run clips on the "Mountains Most Wanted," which show pictures and give a physical description of suspects. The Asheville Citizen-Times regularly does pieces on crime suspects and crime arrests.

How does this program work?

The first step begins when a concerned citizen makes an anonymous telephone call to Crime Stoppers. The coordinator or Communications takes the information offered, and gets the individual's date of birth.

Information obtained by the Crime Stoppers coordinator will be forwarded to the appropriate agency and division.

The board will vote on the dollar amount to be awarded to the anonymous person when an arrest has been made based on the caller's tips.

When the caller contacts Crime Stoppers to check on the status of his/her file, the coordinator will inform him/her of the arrest and the reward money. The coordinator will get a physical description of the caller and will give him/her a receipt number to use to receive the cash money. A time and place to meet a board member will be set up.

The caller and board member will meet in the designated place, and the caller will have to write their receipt number on the paper, and will receive his/her cash reward.

Crime Stoppers is an important way for Buncombe County to get involved with keeping the community safe and crime free. Tips from anonymous callers are invaluable for law enforcement officials to find and apprehend suspects. Since January of 2001, approximately 230 felons have been arrested. Approximately 100 arrests are made yearly.

For more information regarding current offenders, please visit our Mountain's Most Wanted page. If you have information that would assist with the apprehension of any known offenders please contact: Lt. Ross Dillingham - Law Enforcement Coordinator - Asheville-Buncombe Crime Stoppers (828) 255-5050 Email: tips@abcrimestoppers.org