Drew Favakeh|Savannah Morning News
In November, after Brittany Herren was named executive director of Crime Stoppersof Savannah-Chatham County, a non-profit organization that works with citizens, law enforcement agencies and media organizations to stop and solve crime in Chatham County, she keptreturning totwo cold cases.
One involved Saundra Thomas. Thomaswas shot and killed in her house in early March 2017. The other case involved Anthony Minor, whowas shot and killed in early November 2010. While these two homicides represent onlytwo of the 31 unsolved murdersCrime Stoppers has on-file, they stick with Herren because they represent a larger trend.
“They are so incredibly solvable.”
While Herren leaves it to the homicide detectives to crack these cases, her new gig requires her to deal directly with the anonymous tippers who are encouraged to call her with any and all information — details about past crimes, suspicious activity or potential future crimes. But, in the Minor and Thomas cases, Herren believes that people who may possess vital information have avoided sending in tipslargely for "fear of talking to police.”
Overcoming that fear, Herren admits, is the biggest hurdle she and Crime Stoppers face.
“We have to try to overcome the whole snitching mentality,” said Herren. “You know, snitches get stitches.”
How do tips work?
While serving as interim executive director of Crime Stoppers last May, Herren hired Trey Legget as Crime Stoppers’ part-time tip coordinator, making the local officea two-person operation. They worked together at Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, where Legget served as street operations, street personnel and warrants managementfor 26 years.
As tip coordinator, Legget reviews the tip from Crime Stoppers’ 24/7 call center or via its website. He then inputs the tip into a system called “P3.” After locating the tip, he sends it to one of the corresponding nine police agencies in Chatham County, including Savannah, Tybee Island, Pooler, Garden City, Bloomingdale, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt and Vernonburg. Legget periodically follows up with the police department, noting the viability of the tip, or if the agency is still actively working on it.
When Crime Stoppers receives a tip, Herren files it, alongside the cold cases, into her file drawer at home in Richmond Hill or Crime Stoppers’ office in Savannah. Herren divides the tips into three sections: closed out, under investigation and connected to another crime. Though Herren prefers citizens send her detailed tips, she stores even the most vague of them, in case it informs a future tip.
Crime Stoppers received 900 tips in 2021, according to Herren, which led to 9 arrests, an increase of 112% over 2020, and the approval of 18 rewards (an increase of 450% over 2020). The tips Crime Stoppers received, said Herren,aided area law enforcement in seizing nearly $80,000 worth of cash, property and drugs.
As of publication, Crime Stoppers has received 22 anonymous tips, thus far, in 2022,ranging from aggravated assault with guns todrugs and fugitives to sexual assault and more.
'We don't know your name;we don't know your address'
Although Savannah Crime Stoppers partners with local police departments, the organization does nottechnically work for law enforcement agencies.
“We don't know your name, we don't know your address,” said Herren. “We don't even know if you're calling from Georgia. You could be calling from anywhere.”
After Crime Stoppers receives atip, it forwards the tipvia email to the corresponding law enforcement agency. David Gay, Savannah Police Captain of Criminal Investigations,who oversees the daily operations of all the main investigative units — including homicide victims, family violence, financial crimes, forensics, all major crimes, and alcohol beverage compliance — said Crime Stoppers can be helpful in multiple ways.
Once it receives the tip, the Savannah Police Department reviews them, judges the information, then forwards it to the appropriate unit. Part of Savannah Police Department’s investigatory process is to review the tips internally, for example, trying to make out the identity of suspects spotted in videos or pictures. If investigators are not successful, the department's public information office(PIO) will promote the images on social media pages and press releases to the media, with a note at the bottom of the post or article:
“Anyone with information on the incident should call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at (912) 525-3124 or Crime Stoppers at (912) 234-2020. Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward. Crime Stoppers tips can also be submitted online by visiting SavannahChathamCrimeStoppers.org and clicking Submit Online Tip.”
“I would say, overall, I believe that Crime Stoppers is helpful,” said Gay.
Crime Stoppers mainly comes in handy to SPD, said Gay, when there is a major crime with no evidence or limited evidence, or when it is seeking information on fugitives, though occasionally, tips filter in when the detectives already spotted the information themselves.
If the tip results in the local police department's arresting a suspect, Crime Stoppers provides the anonymous tipper a code number, which the anonymous tipper can taketo the bankto receive their reward. Rewards stem from Crime Stopper’s $95,000 reserve — provided to them by the familiesof victims as well as online donations, among other avenues. Crimestoppers offers rewards as high as $2,500 to tippers, said Herren, yet 80% of tippers fail to collect their reward.
Next steps for Crime Stoppers: ‘Voice for the Voiceless’
One week before Herren met with the Savannah Morning News for this interview, she sent an email to Savannah Police Assistant Chief Lenny Gunther, asking about trends.
"He sort of outlined, gathering information on drug activity, drug locations, talking to people about locking their vehicles and securing valuables because they are having a lot of guns stolen from vehicles, which are then used in the commission of other crimes,” said Herren.
Herren meets with representatives from police departments once per month, she said, and peppers them with questions. These types of conversations— and subsequently acting on them — exemplifies Herren’s newfound mission as executive director: make Crime Stoppers more “focused and intentional.”
“Before, we used to cast a wide net, and we were [telling residents that they could] call crimes in about anything,” said Herren. “But now, I want to know what the biggest problems are, and then help coach the public on how to get those tips on those specific problems.”
This sort of detailed, community-oriented workhas long appealed to Herren.
Prior to being named executive director, Herren served for 10 months as the organization's interim executive director. Before that, she served for two years as Crime Stoppers’ assistant executive director.She has worked multiple public relations jobs, most recently as public information officer forthe Chatham County Sheriff’s Office. A former news reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times,she has used her writing and reporting skills to compose intimate stories about cold cases within the Chatham County area, including those of Saundra Thomas and Anthony Minor, which have beenpublished in Connect Savannah, analternative weekly newspaper.
“Being able to see the impact in your community, when I see a tip come in, and then that tip result in a homicide arrest, that means that that family, you know, they’re not gonna get that person back, but they're getting justice for that crime,” said Herren. “And there's just a feeling you get from knowing that you're making those things possible that you just can't put a price on.”
Moving forward, Herrenplans to deploy more public service announcements, specifically about preventing car-break-ins, especially those that involve the theft ofguns. Herren plans on hosting a capital campaign for Crime Stoppers, in addition tobeing more transparent with the media“to get stories out there.”
“We like to be the voice of the voiceless,” said Herren. “There are good people that live in communities that unfortunately, some may be like lower socioeconomic communities that are just in the midst of crime. But, there's children that live there. There's families, and they just want to live their lives. They want to be able to sit on their porch and sip a cup of coffee without having to worry about gunfire. And those people can come to us without the fear of retaliation.”
Drew Favakeh is the public safety and public health reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com.
