St. Petersburg offers anonymous tipsters cash for illegal guns

[Hazcat]

By Emily Nipps, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Apr 24, 2009 08:30 AM


 

ST. PETERSBURG — The city is launching a new program aimed at getting illegal guns off the streets.

This morning at City Hall, Mayor Rick Baker, Police Chief Chuck Harmon and community leaders will unveil a "gun bounty" for weapons, offering $1,500 for each tip leading to an arrest and recovery of an assault weapon and $1,000 for all other firearms.

The initiative is a response to a rash of shootings in the past month, including one that killed 8-year-old Paris Whitehead-Hamilton on April 5.

Paris was shot as she ran from her bedroom window as her Preston Avenue home was riddled with 50 rounds from semiautomatic weapons. Police later seized a cache of weapons, including two AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, when they arrested three suspects in the case.

Police are asking anyone with information about illegal guns to call the Crime Stoppers line at 1-800-873-TIPS (8477). People may remain anonymous but must give information that results in an arrest, recovers at least one weapon and leads to a gun charge.

State Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, said Thursday that the city would launch a gun buy-back program, but offered no details and the city officials refused to comment.

City officials today stressed that the new program is different from gun buy-backs, in which people can turn in their own guns for cash. Such programs are "largely ineffective in removing guns from the hands of criminals who use them to commit crimes,'' the Police Department said in a statement today.

Several Florida counties, including Pinellas and Hillsborough, experimented with buy-back programs in the past, with mixed results.

The bounty program will be paid for through the Police Department's forfeiture fund and private donations to Crime Stoppers of Pinellas County.

In a prepared statement this morning, Harmon said the goal "is to focus on individuals who carry guns illegally or use them to commit crimes." He said confidential tips cannot be traced and payments "handled discreetly" by Crime Stoppers of Pinellas County.

Police have complained that a "don't snitch'' code of silence hampers their ability to solve crimes. While three people have been arrested in the killing of Paris, they say they believe others were involved.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article994945.ece

[ericire12]

"Illegal guns"

Damn illegals. They need to go back to where they came from and stop killing innocent people in our country.

Maybe if we didnt have such a porous boarder they would not be able to even make it into our country to commit all those crimes in the first place. Amnesty is not the answer, either. If we are going to stem the tide of illegals and keep our streets safe, we have to stop the flow of illegals into our country and deport the ones that are here now.

I for one wish Obama would get off his ass and make Congress pass some kind of legislation that would ban these illegals. If there were only a law on the books, I know that it would stop immediately and that this would never ever be a problem ever again. The solution is so simple, and it would finally bring about the utopia that we all know America can be. I just dont know why no one will do anything about it....... I guess Obama just does not care about the children.




 




 

[ericire12]

.... After thinking about it, I have come to realize that it is very bigoted of me to refer to the guns as "illegals". From this day forward I vow that I will be more sensitive and understanding...... From this day forward I will only use the term "Undocumented Guns" 

[Hazcat]

.... After thinking about it, I have come to realize that it is very bigoted of me to refer to the guns as "illegals". From this day forward I vow that I will be more sensitive and understanding...... From this day forward I will only use the term "Undocumented Guns" 

WELL!  It's about time you joined the rest of the 'civilized' world! 

[tombogan03884]

Damn illegals. They need to go back to where they came from and stop killing innocent people in our country.

Maybe if we didnt have such a porous boarder they would not be able to even make it into our country to commit all those crimes in the first place. Amnesty is not the answer, either. If we are going to stem the tide of illegals and keep our streets safe, we have to stop the flow of illegals into our country and deport the ones that are here now.

I for one wish Obama would get off his ass and make Congress pass some kind of legislation that would ban these illegals. If there were only a law on the books, I know that it would stop immediately and that this would never ever be a problem ever again. The solution is so simple, and it would finally bring about the utopia that we all know America can be. I just dont know why no one will do anything about it....... I guess Obama just does not care about the children.




 




 

Of course not, He only cares about 3 groups in America, illegal aliens, career welfare recipients, and  and the "white guilt" socialist elitists. You know, the ones who elected him. 

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