Crime Stoppers accepts anonymous tips online, and its general reward program may pay up to $1,000 for qualifying information. Rewards are not automatic.
How Crime Stoppers Tips and Rewards Work
Oklahoma City Crime Stoppers dates to July 1979 and was established as a partnership among the community, local media and law enforcement. The program is supported by private donations and fundraising, rather than taxpayer dollars, and serves the Oklahoma City metro area. The city says the program has helped generate thousands of arrests and recover drugs, firearms and stolen property.
Crime Stoppers accepts anonymous tips through its website. Tips submitted online go through a process the organization describes as completely secure and anonymous, and it says callers are never identified and their conversations are never recorded.
How the Reward Process Works
Crime Stoppers' general program may provide a cash reward of up to $1,000, though the amount isn't automatic. According to the organization, a community board meets monthly to evaluate arrests tied to tips and decide how much, if any, reward to pay.
Oklahoma law also recognizes a confidentiality privilege for communications to certified Crime Stoppers organizations. The statute defines a privileged communication as a report made by someone seeking anonymity; it says evidence of that communication is inadmissible in court or administrative proceedings and generally bars compelled production of related records, with an exception allowing a criminal defendant to ask the court for them. The statute applies to organizations certified under state standards.
Crime Stoppers says rewards are tied to information that leads to charges being filed or an arrest being made — not simply to a tip being submitted.
What Remains Unclear
Tulsa’s program offers a nearby comparison, but its terms differ: it advertises rewards of up to $1,500 for information leading to charges against felony offenders or their arrest, and its board considers reward payments monthly. Tulsa Crime Stoppers limits its investigations to felony cases, underscoring that reward ceilings and eligibility rules are set by individual local programs rather than being uniform across Oklahoma.
Whether anyone has since been identified or arrested remains unclear.
