Natalie Erpenbach and Pete Kaz of Crime Stoppers of Clark County presented to the Clark County Board of Supervisors at their last regular meeting. This program started a few years back but when COVID hit members were not able to meet regularly and it fell by the roadside. Natalie and Pete have now reinvigorated the program.

“So back in 2019, the team we had actually incorporated and we got the contracts with the professionals that take care of Crime Stoppers and then we kind of went dark for a little bit but as of February of this year, we are up and running,” Erpenbach announced. “And what we wanted to do was make our county board aware that we actually do have a Crime Stoppers organization that is in support of Clark County and our sheriff's department and all of our local law enforcement. You might have heard of Crime Stoppers, it's actually part of a National Crime Stoppers organization, which operates throughout the United States. It's a network of local programs, grassroot programs that work together to prevent and solve crimes in communities across the nation. We've actually got a contract with two different companies, one is a website, and one is an app.”

Crime Stoppers allows a person to report anonymous information regarding a crime by either calling the tipline at 877-341-3416, scanning a QR code (pictured) or going to www.p3tips.com.  The tiplines and the web connection are manned by professional program coordinators. Each caller is assigned a code number to ensure anonymity. Local law enforcement receives and processes the tips from Crime Stoppers which they can use to solve crimes. If the information leads to an arrest, the caller may receive cash rewards.

Clark County Crime Stoppers retains direction from the sheriff's office. Sheriff Scott Haines added his support for the program. “First of all, I'd like to thank you guys for all the time that you've put into this program,” Haines said. “It's a very valuable program. It's been around since the 70s and there are a lot of crimes out there where people, I think, would love to come forward and give us information but did not want to get involved. And this is a way for them to get involved and help us and, you know as well as I do, that the citizens are the eyes for us, law enforcement officers and I think going forward, this can be a very valuable tool.”

This program is funded through community support. Tax deductible donations are accepted at Crime Stoppers of Clark County WI Inc. PO Box 56, Loyal, WI 54446, email: csclarkcowiQ@gmail.com.