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In an effort to erase community hesitancy in reporting violent crimes, Knoxville has joined a program that puts up a barrier between tipsters and police.
City leaders on Wednesday announced the creation of the East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers Program. It s a tool to help investigators as so many of the city s murders go unsolved, including the deaths of two teens this year.
The national program allows anyone to provide anonymous information about criminal activity and pays them in cash if the information leads to an arrest.
That emphasis on anonymity was the selling point, Police Chief Eve Thomas said, and she listed it as the reason why community members who were scared to give information to police should feel comfortable using it.