The Florida Crime Stoppers Act 16.555, Florida Statute, established the Crime Stoppers Trust Fund, to improve and support members of the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers, Inc. in their crime fighting programs within units of local government. The Act also provides for enhancing public awareness of crime prevention methods and training the public in personal safety principles, especially for citizens who live in, work at, or frequent locations having high crime rates. The Department of Legal Affairs makes grant funds available annually to carry out the purposes of the Act. Grants may only be awarded to counties that are served by an official member of the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers and may only be used to support Crime Stoppers and their crime fighting programs.
Broward County Crime Stoppers is a non-profit organization dedicated to solving and preventing crime in Broward County. When a citizen calls in with a tip or information about a crime, Crime Stoppers disseminates that information to the appropriate law enforcement agency for immediate action.
In order to award grants to individual crime stopper programs, a letter from a chapter’s County Board of County Commissioners must assign the chapter as an agent for the purpose of applying for and receiving grant funds. This letter needs to be updated every three years, and was last updated in August 2011. That designation expires on July 1, 2014.
The proposed letter is included as Exhibit 1. |