A Message From Our President

by K. Scott Abrams, CPA

06/11/08

President's Message -- K. Scott Abrams, CPA, FHFMA

I would first like to take this opportunity to thank all the organizations that participated in our recent Wisconsin State Crime Stoppers Annual Meeting and Training Conference at Ho Chunk Casino on April 25 -- 26, 2008. With 30 programs represented and 72 individuals participating, indicated one gauge of the success for this conference. Another way to view the success of this conference was by all the positive interaction that took place through networking, good questions during the presentations, and every presentation was well attended. But the ultimate gauge of success is by how the participants provided feedback through the conference evaluation. Overwhelmingly, almost every category on the evaluations scored 4.3 on a 5 point scale. We appreciate your feedback.

We believe the theme of 'Back to the Basics' had much to do with the success of the conference. With Jean Block, a nationally recognized speaker on nonprofit organizations speaking to us on how to strengthen our local Crime Stoppers boards as well as conducting down to earth fund-raising activities, provided many down to earth techniques and tools that could be implemented immediately at our local Crime Stoppers programs. Also, many found our media are relations presentation very informative and worthwhile as the LaBarbara Media Group offered tips and suggestions on how to interact with your local media.

I commend the Wisconsin State Crime Stoppers Board of Directors for all their hard work and assistance in making this conference for you a huge success. This Board worked together as a team as it conducted its first ever Crime Stoppers conference without a local host program. Another deep appreciation goes to the Crime Stoppers of Racine County for sponsoring the LaBarbera Media Group presentation and providing the name badges, pens and notebooks for the conference. Finally, a big thanks to Glen Gerrard who provided some entertainment through comedy and magic after the banquet. If you missed the conference this year, make sure you join us next year as we plan to have an equally stimulating conference full of education, networking and camaraderie. We will again be utilizing the facilities at the Ho Chunk Casino in Baraboo on April 24 - 25, 2009. Don't miss next year's event!

Recently, there was an article in the New York Times on May 18, 2008 regarding Crime Stoppers. The article discussed the current economic picture in the United States as the country moves toward a potential recession and the impact that some Crime Stoppers programs are having throughout the country. The article related that some Crime Stoppers programs have seen increases in calls and rewards of more than 50% over last year at this time. Comments by anonymous tipsters made to some of the coordinators by related that they really needed the money and that they knew about a lot of crimes, but previously they had not opened their mouth. Tough times create opportunities for others.

After this article ran in the New York Times, I received a call from Fox 6 News Milwaukee. Several other State board members were contacted as well. What they wanted to know was whether the article in the New York Times was a reflection on how the Crime Stoppers programs in Wisconsin and if we were seeing any increased call volumes. I was able to look on the Crime Stoppers national database and looked at our Wisconsin statistics. It is a sad reflection, but many of our programs in Wisconsin do not report statistics on a regular basis, which was one of our topics at the conference and will be a focus article in a future issue of ‘In Pursuit.’ Irrespective of that, I was able to determine that we have not been experiencing a significant increase in calls that other areas of the country have been seeing.

As I discussed this phenomenon with our Crime Stoppers USA President, Elaine Cloyd, who was quoted in the New York Times article, we also realized that the areas quoted in the article were programs that had implemented a text messaging tip system for tips. As most of us are aware, the younger generation feels very comfortable with text messaging and finds this mode of communication very effective. The point for this conversation is that our local programs in Wisconsin may want to look at this type of process to accumulate tips from individuals. It is effective, and as I have found out, a very safe and anonymous process. We will provide more information on this topic in an article in a future issue of our newsletter, 'In Pursuit.'