The annual Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers golf tournament tees up Thursday, Aug. 14 at Kerr Lake Country Club. There are 19 teams signed up so far. Danny Wright, the local organization’s treasurer, says there’s still room to squeeze in a couple more.

Folks may be familiar with the way Crime Stoppers works, and Wright said the local organization has recently made a $5,000 reward for information in a case. Often, the reward is $2,000 or less, he said.

To be clear, the local group receives no state or federal funding – it relies on donations from individuals, businesses and other community organizations to be able to make the rewards.

Organizers hope to raise between $10,000 and $12,000 with the golf tournament.

The four-member teams pay $200 that includes a round of golf, lunch and snacks. Lunch and check-in begins at 11:30 a.m., with a shotgun start at 1 p.m.

The hole sponsors are key to generating the income, he said. Hole sponsorships are $100 and there’s still time to become a sponsor. Call Wright at 252.432.1141 to learn how.

“The reward is a bonus,” Wright explained, “something extra. We like to think that good community-minded citizens would share information without having to be paid to do so.”

Crime in communities is nothing new, and it seems sometimes that Vance County has more than its share, Wright said. It’s the advances in technology that are helping to make it simpler to share information to law enforcement agencies.

Crime Stoppers uses a P3 app in addition to a phone number for individuals to send helpful information.

But there also are links on the group’s social media page and website that facilitate to report information as well.

“For every crime that occurs, somebody somewhere sees something and knows something and we are the organization that facilitates the flow of that information into the hands of law enforcement – anonymously,” Wright said. Emphasis on the word “anonymously.”

The technology has changed, but the premise of seeing something and reporting it is the basis for Crime Stoppers.

“It’s still up to the individual in their community to want to watch and be vigilant as to what is going on in their community and report,” Wright said. “We are relying on the good faith of our community citizens. If you don’t have the safety and security of your citizens, you have absolutely nothing.”

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