Citizen Crime Watch Blog

Crimestoppers offering extra rewards for gun tips
by Michelle Hunter, The Times-Picayune
Friday June 06, 2008, 3:19 PM

Crimestoppers Inc. tipsters now have a new way to make money and take guns off the streets.

Local law enforcement agencies have banded with Crimestoppers to offer an additional reward for information that leads to a firearm used in a crime.

Tipsters usually earn as much as $2,500 for information that results in the indictment of a suspect in a homicide or non-fatal shooting. Now they can pick up an additional $1,000 for the firearm, for a maximum total of $3,500, said Darlene Cusanza, executive director for the New Orleans area’s Crimestoppers organization.

She launched the campaign this afternoon at a news conference with local law enforcement and government officials from the New Orleans area.

Cusanza said Crimestoppers also is offering individual $1,000 rewards for callers who provide the location of a convicted felon who has a gun. As per Crimestoppers guidelines, callers do not have to identify themselves by namne to receive a reward.

In addition to television commercials, billboards and posters, Crimestoppers is advertising the program on public buses in Jefferson and Orleans parishes.

Cusanza stressed that the program is not a gun buy-back initiative. Law enforcement must first connect the gun to the crime specified by the caller before a reward is issued, she said.

To report information on a criminal suspect or a firearm used in a crime, call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or toll-free at (877) 903-7867.

New advertising campaign targets sex offenders
by Allen Powell, The Times Picayune
Friday May 02, 2008, 9:30 AM

Local police agencies and a watchdog group have teamed up to launch an advertising campaign seeking the public’s help in locating sex offenders who have failed to keep up with the requirements of Louisiana law.

The New Orleans Police Department, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Kenner Police and Crimestoppers today announced the new campaign, meant to publicize the names, pictures and charges for nearly 60 sex offenders who have failed to meet the registration requirements set by law.

An ad detailing that information will run in the Times-Picayune on Monday, the group said.

The agencies estimate that about 231 sex offenders in the three jurisdictions currently are not in compliant. Often, these individuals do not notify law enforcement agencies about their current addresses or give addresses that turn out to be incorrect.

Darlene Cusanza, the executive director of Crimestoppers, said the organization is using the ad as a pilot program based on similar programs in other cities. She said that the agency is offering residents a $500 reward for any information that leads to an arrest.

“This is an important project for us and we hope that the citizens will take this seriously,” Cusanza said.

Grieving father pleads for information
His 17-year-old son was shot on the street
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
By Brendan McCarthy
The Times-Picayune

A slain teenager’s father stood on a 7th Ward street corner Tuesday afternoon and pleaded for help.

His son, Lance Zarders, 17, was gunned down last month in the street, the victim of a drive-by shooting.

New Orleans police have arrested a 15-year-old boy in the case, but both Lionel Zarders and detectives have questions: Who was driving the dark-colored vehicle leaving the scene? Who else helped unload several rounds of gunfire as Lance Zarders walked down the street?

In a quest for answers, the reward for information on the case has been upped to $12,500 from the standard $2,500. Lance Zarder’s family, Crimestoppers and the detectives on the case announced the increase Tuesday at the site of the slaying.

“All we can ask for is justice,” Lionel Zarders said. He talked of how his son was a student at Frederick Douglass High School and aimed to attend vocational school.

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Reward increased for suspects in shooting
Officer wounded after Katrina
The Times-Picayune
Friday, March 14, 2008
From staff reports

Police asked for help Thursday in finding two suspects on the lam for more than a year since they were charged in the Algiers shooting of a New Orleans police officer in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

Crimestoppers has increased the reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of Vincent Walker, 45, or Jimil Joyner, 25, to up to $10,000, said Darlene Cusanza, executive director of Crimestoppers.

Walker and Joyner were arrested Aug. 30 , 2005, in the 2600 block of Gen. de Gaulle Drive, shortly after officer Kevin Thomas was seriously wounded. Police booked them with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting. Police say the 18-year veteran was wounded in a shootout with looters at a convenience store.

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