HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT
Using The Private Sector To Deter Crime
How to Expand the Role of the Bounty Hunter
If bounty hunting is interpreted as all private apprehension of criminals, everyone is a potential bounty hunter. National television shows like "America’s Most Wanted" demonstrate that people will step forward to identify criminals even when there is no reward - provided they can maintain anonymity. Bounties accomplish two desirable objectives at once. First, financial incentives encourage more private citizens to become involved in detecting and apprehending criminals. Second, because of the increased effort to detect and apprehend, bounties raise the cost of crime to criminals and therefore reduce crime. If potential criminals know they will have a bounty on their heads after their crimes, they also know that the likelihood of being caught is higher and that committing a crime is riskier.Use of Bounties by Government. There is some recognition of the value of bounties, both in the public and private sectors. The federal government has offered bounties of $1 million or more in some cases of terrorism, and federal and state agencies often post bounties for killers and kidnapers.58 For example, two bail enforcement agents recently tracked down a murder suspect in Dallas after the federal government offered a $2,500 reward for his capture.59 Among notable uses of bounties in the private sector: for many years, armored truck companies and art galleries have offered rewards when they have been robbed or burglarized. In addition, governments, police and bounty hunters pay "snitches" for information. And the federal government has long been authorized to pay rewards to those who identify tax evaders.
Expanding the Role of Private-Sector Bounties.
"Of 717 fugitives profiled on ‘America’s Most Wanted,’ 292 were captured as a direct result of viewer participation."In principle, bounties could routinely be given to people whose help leads to an arrest and conviction for every crime. Public methods for communicating information about crimes and rewards could include advertisements on television and radio and in newspapers, magazines and other publications. As the activity became more common, special bounty hunting magazines might emerge. More programs like "America’s Most Wanted" and "Unsolved Mysteries" would be likely. The Fox Television Network reports that of 717 fugitives profiled on "America’s Most Wanted" through early February 1994, 292 were captured as a direct result of viewer participation.60
Funding for Private Bounties.
Under the current system, the priorities of the police often are not the same as the priorities of the victims. A system in which victims could promise cash rewards to people whose help leads to the arrest and conviction of criminals would help change that. Bounties could come from at least four sources:- Interested, public-spirited citizens could set up an organization to fund bounties.
- Victims of crimes could fund their own rewards.
- Association and insurance policies covering theft and other loss or casualty due to crime could include posting of bounties as an integral part of the policy.
- Developers, businessmen, building owners and homeowner associations could institute a system of bounties covering crimes in residential and business districts.
Case Study: Crime Stoppers.
Begun in Albuquerque, N. M., in 1976 and now an international organization, Crime Stoppers is a privately organized and funded program to help apprehend criminals and recover stolen property. Residents in a community set up a nonprofit corporation, raise funds and determine the amount of rewards and how they will be paid. Crime Stoppers encourages people to come forward with information by offering both anonymity and money. The organization works closely with police, and police detectives staff a special Crime Stoppers telephone. Callers are assigned code numbers and do not give their names. Over the years, Crime Stoppers estimates that callers encouraged by its program have helped police to recover nearly $3 billion in stolen property and narcotics and to attain a 97 percent conviction rate for defendants who are tried.61"Crime Stoppers has led to the recovery of almost $3 billion in stolen property and narcotics and helped authorities attain a 97 percent conviction rate."Case Study: Crime Stoppers for Horses.
An example of funding by victims is the union of the Texas Horse Owners Association and Crime Stoppers to form the "Crime Stoppers Missing Horse Alert." The project has proven highly successful in discouraging horse thieves in the Greater Houston area. Seventy percent of the horses reported missing have been recovered, and charges have been filed on 30 percent of those. Cooperation with horse auctions and packing plants has been vital, as have rewards for tips leading to the arrest of horse thieves.62Case Study: WETIP.
Founded 21 years ago with $14,000 by Miriam and Bill Brownell, a shop owner and a former sheriff’s deputy, this nonprofit business has grown to a nationwide operation with $1 million in revenues per year paid by subscribers, service organizations like Kiwanis and Lions clubs and supporting members. In 1993 WETIP received more than 40,000 anonymous crime reports. For example, an insurance company plagued by arson claims can subscribe and obtain arson-related fliers that publicize the 800-47-ARSON hot line. The standard reward for a tip leading to a conviction is $1,000, but a subscribing company can supplement that. In a case in which a Corona, Calif., sniper murdered a policewoman and paralyzed a passenger in a police car, local firefighter and police associations sweetened the reward to $15,000. WETIP spots ran nightly on a Los Angeles television station and led to the arrest and conviction of the sniper, who is now on death row.Expanding the Role of Insurers.
As noted above, insurance companies frequently offer rewards for information leading to conviction in arson cases. Arson losses resulting from 46,000 fires each year exceed $1 billion, cause over 5 percent of all structural fires, and result in 15,500 arrests each year, with nearly half of those arrested being under age 18.63 The practice of offering rewards could be extended to other losses of property involving criminal activity. Insurance companies should be encouraged to write policies that not only reimburse policyholders for crime losses but also promise clients that they will post a reward for information leading to identification, arrest and conviction of those who harm or steal from the policyholder, as well as for the recovery of stolen property. This would raise the arrest rate sharply and boost the recovery rate of stolen property from today’s meager one-third. Crime would fall.The market in theft insurance remains surprisingly small despite the vast dollar value of property to protect from criminals and the high losses to crime.
- In 1981 the insurance industry wrote $127 million in burglary, robbery and larceny policies, and in 1990 only $108 million.64
- In 1992 the reported dollar loss from robbery was $534 million, burglary $3.4 billion, larceny/theft $3.4 billion and motor vehicle theft $5.4 billion - a total of $12.7 billion.65
"Insurance companies should be encouraged to write policies that include offering rewards."