After passing a new ordinance through Daviess County Fiscal Court, residents who are charged with misdemeanor offenses will pay one dollar in court costs that will be allocated to Crime Stoppers.
Crime Stoppers, a community-based, nonprofit registered corporation, is managed by a civilian board of directors and operates like a crime information collection agency. The organization enables anyone with information about a crime, and who wishes to remain anonymous, to pass that information on to law enforcement through a neutral organization.
County Attorney Claud Porter said this contract allows the dollar donations to go on for two years at a time, with the option to renew the contract every two years. This ordinance is a way for residents to give back to the community.
“It’s a statutory provision,” Porter said. “Before, Fiscal Court granted Crime Stoppers ‘x’ number of dollars.”
Those being charged will have been charged and, most of the time, convicted of their crimes, Porter said. Traffic ticket violations will not see the dollar charge.
If the judge waives court costs, residents will not be charged with the dollar, Porter said.
“They don’t differentiate the one dollar on the bill, but several fees are collected,” he said. “There’s a fee for the library, for head traumas or injuries, and for defenders–but they aren’t itemized.”
Crime Stoppers is eligible to pay a person for their anonymous tip, and these one-dollar charges will go toward those monetary rewards.
“They are eligible to pay a person based on the number [their call] is given,” he said.
Fiscal Court’s only responsibility in this endeavor is to review the process, Porter said. Crime Stoppers provides Fiscal Court with the receipts, reward amounts, payments and the types of crimes anonymous callers are rewarded for over the course of the year.
Porter said his calculations estimate that a maximum of between 2,500 and 3,000 misdemeanor cases could see the dollar charge added to court costs.
