Crime Stopper Addresses Chamber

By Michael Larkin

Lieutenant G. Ralph Giardina spoke at a recent congregation of the Hicksville Chamber of Commerce about the success of the Nassau County Crime Stoppers Program.

The program is based on the principle that "for every crime there is someone who knows something about it." Procuring this information from these people has proven to be a difficult task in the past, yet the Crime Stoppers Unit has been effective in obtaining these vital leads in criminal cases.

Giardina cites the alleviation of two traditional obstacles to public involvement; fear of involvement and apathy; as the reason for the program's success. "The fear of involvement is countered by an offer of anonymity to potential informants," Giardina said. "We don't know who the tipster is, and we don't want to know who the tipster is."

The police have gone to great lengths to ensure a tipster's privacy. A code number is issued to each caller the program gets. This number will allow the tipster to assist the police in future matters concerning a particular case or to receive their reward.

Another obstacle in procuring information from the public is apathy. "We offer rewards of up to $1000," Giardina said. "A lot of times, however, the people are not even interested in the reward."

The program is funded by the Nassau County Crime Stoppers Inc. The corporation is run by several businessmen who live in Nassau County; Alan Fortunoff; Stanley Creightman, chairman of NYIT; Richard Grasso, chairman and CEO of the NYSE; Steven Hammerman, chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch; and William Flynn, chairman and CEO of Mutual Life. They volunteer their time and efforts to run the corporation and raise the necessary funds for the program.

The Crime Stoppers Unit has vigorously marketed this new tool in fighting crime to the public. "We're trying to get it to where people just know our number," said Giardina. "It's starting to work. People are calling us about cases we didn't even ask for help on."

Since its inception the community-based program has proven successful in expediting the apprehension of many criminals. In 1996, 23 arrests resulted from tips to Crime Stoppers and in 1997, 34 arrests were made. In 1996 and 1997 a total of 81 cases were closed due to the Crime Stoppers program.

"The program is working," said Giardina. "Crime statistics show that crime is going down, yet our numbers continue to rise. It illustrates how effective the program is."