WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — When it comes to Crime Stoppers, people can come forward with tips and receive a monetary reward for information leading to arrests.
For some families, it's the chance to get closure.
We hear that the tool is anonymous but News 2 checked base with Winston-Salem Crime Stoppers on how anonymous Crime Stoppers truly is.
"We are not here to try to get people's personal information we want to know the facts about the crime," said Winston-Salem Crime Stoppers Coordinator Elwood Craven.
Craven told WFMY News 2 how it works. He said when a person calls any 10-digit Crime Stopper's number someone with the company will answer.
"You give them the information that we need or that law-enforcement needs we keep you completely anonymous by not getting your telephone number or your name or any information," Craven said.
Generally, if you call someone, your number would pop up on caller ID. But that isn't the case with Crime Stoppers.
"That number when you call, it is routed through a phone bank that is actually in another country he comes back to us so it's no way that your number shows up and there's no record of who you are when you called," Craven said.
Before you hang up the phone they give you a 5-digit number in case you need to contact them again.
"That's how we search information and do our report and tracker information," Craven said.
You can also submit tips online and through text, both are also anonymous.
Last year, Winston-Salem Crime Stoppers received 343 tips. Over that same time, Greensboro Guilford Crime Stoppers received 1,538 tips.