JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Since its beginnings in Jacksonville in 2002, First Coast Crime Stoppers only had one executive director: Wyllie Hodges.
Hodges, a public servant of more than 50 years between the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and First Coast Crime Stoppers, passed away last August.
Now Chase Robinson is carrying on Hodges’ legacy. He’s working in a new building in downtown Jacksonville on Adams Street.
But the goal has not changed.
“If you see something, say something,” Robinson said.
Something he learned while working under Hodges.
“The foundation that he built, the future looks great because of Wyllie,” Robinson said. “I am instrumental in carrying that legacy forward.”
A legacy he’s reminded of every day when he walks by a memorial to Hodges in the front lobby.
“I want to walk in his footprints, so to speak,” Robinson said.
When Robinson gets to his office, his goal is to reach you.
First Coast Crime Stoppers says the community has been instrumental in dozens of cases: 132 murders solved since 2002, to be exact.
Robinson said the organization is building on that by reaching a younger community and making things easier with a mobile app called P3 Tips. The app allows you to select a location, submit a tip and stay anonymous.
“You can take screenshots of social media handles. You can attach all that information on our website or the P3 app to make sure that you know if that does lead to the arrest of someone, that you can get paid that cash reward,” Robinson said.
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Or, as always, you can call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS, and no one will know who you are.
“It goes to a call center, an undisclosed location in Southeast Texas,” he said.
You can also dial **TIPS.
It is well known that Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards for tips leading to arrests in cases.
As of this year, the number of unclaimed rewards for Crime Stoppers nationally is staggering.
“There’s a million dollars technically sitting out there that people are approved to pick up, that their tips have led to the arrest of someone involved in the case, but they just haven’t picked up the reward,” Robinson said.
He said that could be for a variety of reasons, but if it has anything to do with you worrying about your personal information being disclosed, don’t let that stop you.
“Over the course of the 22 years that we’ve been here in Jacksonville, we’ve never compromised the identity of a tipster,” Robinson said. “We’ve paid over $40,000 in rewards, and that’s only at a 49% pickup rate, so only half of the people are actually (taking the money) once their tip has been approved for a reward.”
Robinson said to keep the tips coming.
“There’s a family that has been forever impacted by the acts of an individual or individuals, and if someone knows something, the smallest amount of information can make a big difference in a case,” he said.
For more information about First Coast Crime Stoppers, go to www.fccrimestoppers.com/.