Authorities hope rewards thwart thieves

Las Vegas police and Crime Stoppers are offering cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of robbers and burglars, authorities announced Thursday.

"We know times are hard. We know people need money," Capt. Jim Dixon said.

Authorities are putting up signs in schools, banks, pharmacies and other locations in the Metropolitan Police Department's jurisdiction notifying the public of the cash reward.

People can earn up to $500 for information leading to the arrest of a robbery or burglary suspect.

If the robbery suspect used a gun during the crime, that could earn the tipster up to another $500.

Those who call Crime Stoppers are anonymous.

Callers receive a tip number and call back in a week or so using that tip number to see if the tip led to an arrest.

If an arrest was made, the caller would be able to pick up the cash reward at a local bank with the tip number.

"We don't want to know their name," Dixon said. "We want to know the thug or punk's name."

Crime Stoppers has always given rewards for information leading to any felony arrest, Director Mike Hope said.

Officials are making the push because of a rash of burglaries this year, Dixon said.

Las Vegas police handled 15,620 burglaries last year.

So far this year, they've seen 15,044, which puts burglaries about 3.7 percent behind last year's rate as police head into the holiday season.

There were 4,525 robberies in the department's jurisdiction last year.

This year, the department has seen 3,965, which puts robberies reported so far 12.38 percent behind last year's rate.

"They're down, but it's not good enough," Dixon said.

Dixon said he expected the Crime Stoppers award would lead to more arrests.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.