Fish fry hooks big donation for Crimestoppers
Published 11:40 pm Friday, July 20, 2012
Those attending Thursday’s presentation of a $5,200 donation to Crimestoppers included (front row, from left) Henry Moore, Jeff Harrison, (second row, from left) Jebb Harrison, Selma Chief of Police William T. Riley, Liz Rutledge, (back row, from left) Dallas County Sheriff Harris Huffman, Dallas County Sheriff Sgt. John Hatfield and Larry Harrison.
Callers to Crimestoppers will continue to receive money if their tips prove helpful thanks largely in part to a donation from Leadership Selma-Dallas County to the organization Thursday.
A check for $5,200 was presented to Crimestoppers President Henry Moore, alongside other city and county officials, to possibly serve as reward money for those who give accurate, verifiable tips about crimes.
A Leadership Selma-Dallas County class at their Billy Atchison Memorial Fish Fry raised the money.
Dallas County Sheriff Harris Huffman said Crimestoppers can reward up to $1,000 for tips, and that the organization has paid out “a good amount” of money since its creation in 2004.
“[The program] has worked out well in Selma,” Huffman said. “It’s one of the best programs that we have. We’re well pleased with it.”
Huffman said the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department pays for the telephone line that comes in to crimestoppers. Each informant chooses a number as their identification each time they call and officers work to verify the information they are given.
“If there’s information that comes in about a city case, we get all the information and relay it to the Selma Police Department,” he said. “If it has to do with something the Alabama State Troopers should know about, we give it to them, conservation department, even other law enforcement agencies outside of Dallas County. We make sure the appropriate offices get the information.”
Huffman said all of the programs he tries to bring into the county are ones that don’t cost the general public or the users the least amount of expense, if not being free.
“This is how Crimestoppers gets its money — contributions, donations and fundraisers,” he said.
Billy Atchison, who died Aug. 31, 2008 from lung cancer, worked as business office manager for Alabama Power Company, was one of the members of Selma-Dallas County Leadership class VIII who created Crimestoppers.
“I want to thank Tommy Atchison and his team for a job well done with raising money for Crimestoppers,” Huffman said. “Also, thank you Leadership Selma-Dallas County for working hard and making this fundraiser possible.”
Anyone with information pertaining to a crime should call at 1-866-44-CRIME.
