Crime Stoppers Report

By Jim Cogan

This is the first in a monthly series detailing the work of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers.

Dozens of presentations explaining Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers have taught me that people are most interested in the cases our program has helped to solve. In that vein, I asked Protect San Jose if I could write a monthly blog about our work.

This month, I want to highlight three cases:

In the first case, there was a report of a drug dealer peddling at a San Jose high school. The tip came in thanks to our Campus Crime Stoppers program that provides students with the opportunity to call or email us with information. San Jose police officers went to the school and found the suspect. They found a stolen police badge and arrested him for theft. Additional charges are forthcoming.

In the second case, a tip came in about drugs being sold out of a house in South San Jose. Our Officer Liaison passed the tip along to San Jose Police Department Metro unit. Metro officers investigated the tip and gathered enough evidence to get a search warrant. They searched the home and seized $3,500 dollars worth of drugs and five guns.

The last case is ongoing. The suspect was working as a janitor at a San Jose high school when it was discovered that he possessed a large quantity of child pornography. Young victims who had been molested by the suspect came forward, and the suspect fled.

Police had no idea where he was, and so, in January, we aired a radio spot about the case. After the story aired, we received a tip that the suspect was hiding out in Mexico. The information was passed along to the United States Marshals, who set up a sting with Mexican authorities. The suspect was arrested and is currently fighting extradition.

All three of these cases illustrate how valuable good information is to arresting criminals and how effective the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers program is at getting that information in the hands of police. The community provides the information, and the police build the cases. Together, we protect San Jose.

Jim Cogan is President of Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers. You can visit their website to find out more about the program.