The San Luis Obispo County Crime Stoppers program has changed its old sign along Highway 1 after nearly 30 years.
KSBY News was in attendance when the new sign went up, and we spoke with some of the volunteers to learn more about the program and how they are hoping to branch out in the community.
“They were all hand-painted signs from an inmate at the Men’s Colony at the time, and since he's not there anymore, we're getting new signs,” said Gary Silveira, SLO County Crime Stoppers Volunteer. “But now we're getting a program to put signs in several places throughout the county. So a reminder to the community that there is this option.”
Silveira told KSBY News the SLO County Crime Stoppers Program, a non-profit, was started by Sheriff George Whiting in San Luis Obispo County back in 1982 and has received over 42,000 tips since then.
After 20 years of volunteering with Crime Stoppers, Silveira feels their presence has gotten out of touch.
“Although we keep getting tips all the time, the numbers of tips have kind of withdrawn a bit through,” Silveira said. “We believe that our presence is not as known as it used to be.”
Silveira says their website has become a valuable resource for those who wish to leave an anonymous tip from their phone or computer.
Crime Stoppers is a way people can help law enforcement solve crimes by offering rewards for information that leads to arrests or convictions.
Some volunteers told us they are happy with the new sign.
“It is refreshing, especially the old sign just had a phone number and we changed several years ago to having a website. And the website by far gets the most action,” said Silveira. “The Sheriff’s Advisory Foundation does help us with our overhead costs, so most of the money that comes in goes to hand out material, signage, or rewards."
Christine Carlton is a board member with SLO County Crime Stoppers and says they go through all of the tips they receive at their board meetings every month.
“We receive tips from local people, but they could be tips for all of the United States,” said Carlton. “If we get a tip for something in Texas, we will send that off to Texas. And last month, we had, I think, almost 50 tips for really important things: child abuse, financial crimes, people that were being endangered, and we were able to help them.”
Silveira tells me they’re planning to put up more Crime Stoppers signs throughout San Luis Obispo County in the near future.
