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Proposal would shield tipsters
Legislation might make it illegal to name those who use Crime Stoppers
By ADAM BEAM
Staff Writer
State and local leaders want to make it a crime to reveal the identities of Crime Stoppers tipsters.
Proposed legislation, formerly announced Wednesday, would make it a misdemeanor to reveal a tipster’s name, punishable by up to one year in prison, a maximum $1,000 fine, or both.
The bill would grant immunity to law enforcement officers, Crime Stoppers employees and volunteers if they “accidentally” release information or a tipster’s name.
House Judiciary chairman Jim Harrison, the bill’s primary sponsor, promised the bill would be law “before the session is halfway over.”
Crime Stoppers operates a 24-hour phone line (1-888-559-TIPS) where people can leave anonymous tips about criminal activity.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said revealing tipsters’ identities hasn’t been a problem, but “there has to be some protection.”
“Defense attorneys do try that,” Lott said. “It’s something that we know is out there.”
The only instance in which a judge’s order could reveal an identity is if the state or federal constitution required it, according to an early version of the bill.
The proposal would give Crime Stoppers access to drug forfeiture money if the arrest was the result of a Crime Stoppers tip. Officials say it will help the organization keep its promise for paying rewards — something it hasn’t always been able to do, said Joey Hudson, president of the Southeast Crime Stoppers Association.
“If we can just be at the break-even point, then we are happy,” he said. “We’re not in it to make any money.”
Judges already can order a convicted criminal to reimburse Crime Stoppers. The new legislation would place a $2,000 limit on how much judges can order. Hudson said that’s because most of the time the criminals don’t have the means to pay the reimbursement.
South Carolina has 17 active Crime Stoppers chapters, including Crime Stoppers of the Midlands. The proposal would create a Crime Stoppers Council that would coordinate the chapters and make sure each chapter is spending at least 80 percent of its money on rewards, as the bill requires.
Since its founding in 1982, Crime Stoppers of the Midlands has given out more than $100,000 in rewards. In 2005, the organization received 570 tips and solved 137 cases, including the 2004 shooting death of Stephanie Dover. The case went unsolved for a year until a Crime Stoppers tip led to an arrest.
Dover’s fiance, Grover Derrick, attended Wednesday’s news conference to support the bill.
“I think it gives people more of an incentive,” he said.
Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405 or abeam@thestate.com.
