"Crime Stoppers Kids" Launched To Fight Crimes Against Children
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - It seems like we here about it every week, children caught in the cross hairs of gun violence.
Just this morning, a person with a gun fired into a Liberty City home, killing an 18-year old and injuring his 13 and 12 year old siblings.
Now the Crime Stoppers has team up with Miami-Dade, The Children's Trust and United Way of Miami-Dade to launch "Crime Stoppers Kids."
The goal is to give every resident a way to get involved in the fight against gun violence involving children. Donations made to the Crime Stoppers Kids fund will specifically go to rewards for tips that lead to the arrest of anyone who commits a violent crime against a child.
"The success of Crime Stoppers in our community has been tremendous. We know for a fact that the larger the reward, the faster quality tips come in and the quicker we catch the bad guys. Crime Stoppers Kids is an opportunity to take that exact same model and focus it on crimes against innocent children and youth," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez in a statement.
Donations will be accepted through crimestopperskids.org and the United Way of Miami Dade which will maintain a web page dedicated to accepting donations.
Miami-Dade Police Director Juan J. Perez and Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers Executive Director Richard Masten will decide the reward payouts.
"Preventing crimes against children is, obviously, the number one goal. But when a child is shot or killed, all of us at United Way believe it's imperative to use every tool at our disposal to make sure the perpetrator is caught and brought to justice as swiftly as possible. That's what Crime Stoppers Kids is intended to do and why we are pleased to join this effort," said Harve A. Mogul, President and CEO of United Way of Miami-Dade.
For more information about Crime Stoppers Kids or to make a donation, please visit crimestopperskids.org.
The creation of Crime Stoppers Kids was inspired by the Wear Orange campaign created to raise awareness about gun violence after the tragic death of fifteen year-old Hadiya Pendleton. You can find out more about Hadiya and the Wear Orange campaign HERE.