CrimeStoppers tip line 'a tool in our toolbox'
Graham Cawthon
Star Staff Writer

SHELBY — Emenuel Humphries hid in a closet hoping to elude arrest when police searched 702 LeGrand St. Jan. 27. It didn’t work.

Humphries, 21, was arrested in connection with a robbery and shooting on Dover Street earlier that month.

After a weeks-long investigation, it was a single call to the CrimeStoppers anonymous tip line that directed police to the home.

CrimeStoppers, reactivated in 2005 after an absence of several years, gives residents the opportunity to provide law enforcement with information without fear of retribution.

Callers can even receive money if their information leads to an arrest and conviction; the caller who helped put Humphries behind bars received $400 for the tip.

“I’m quite pleased” with the group’s success, said CrimeStoppers board member Susann Durham.

Mrs. Durham said the local group began several decades ago but died out in the late 1990s. Interest in the organization returned when Shelby’s crime rate peaked in 2000.

“It’s all part of community policing,” said Shelby Police Capt. Mark Brooks.

Brooks said Shelby police have received several vital tips from the hotline regarding recent robberies and shootings. He said police need all the tips they can get, even if callers’ only motivation is money.

CrimeStoppers Chairman Shell Byers retired from law enforcement after 30 years. He said the only way to make Shelby a safer place to live is through participation in groups like CrimeStoppers.

“You cannot do it without the citizens’ help,” he said, noting that a strong police department is not enough to deter crime.

He said the anonymity of the hotline helps protect callers who may be afraid or who feel uneasy about turning in a family member.

“It’s a tool in our toolbox,” said board member Gary Staymate.

Staymate said it’s important for residents not to be complacent with falling crime numbers, noting that while it is safer to walk the streets now compared to six years ago, Shelby is not as safe as it needs to be.

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