History and Program Development

Historical Description

Founded in 1971 as an outgrowth of the Chamber of Commerce’s Criminal Justice Task Force, community leaders created the Metropolitan Tulsa Citizens Crime Commission. The intent of the organization was to deliver crime prevention and educational programs to the community and foster working relationships between law enforcement and participating citizens. In 1984 with one employee, the MTCCC developed and copyrighted the Alert Neighbor program and the subsequent guide, which is still in use today. In an effort to better work with law enforcement agencies to “catch a crook”, founding fathers were instrumental in starting the first Crime Stopper program in the state. For several decades the organization maintained the two core programs with contributions from corporations and tapping into the surplus sale of the Tulsa Police Department. The latter form of funding ended in the mid-1990’s. It is also important to note that there were several name changes over the first three decades of the organization – Tulsa Citizen’s Crime Commission, Citizen’s Crime Commission, Crime Commission, Crime Prevention Network and finally Tulsa Crime Stoppers.

Program Development

Current programs of the agency are listed below with the start date of the program. No fees are charged for the delivery of the programs to the community.

  • 1979
    Tulsa Crime Stoppers is a citizen-supported program that allows people to report criminal activities anonymously. The Crime Stoppers Coordinator and the Crime Prevention Network Board of Directors determines the amount of awards and ensures payment to those who provide information, and are responsible for raising money to continue their respective programs. Since its inception in 1979 the Crime Stopper program alone has awarded $500,000 for information that resulted in solving more than 6,200 felony cases while recovering over $12 million in stolen property and narcotics. Crime Stoppers arrest rate is 85%.
  • 1980
    Alert Neighbor Program – is a trademark program. Since its inception in 1980 well over a million residents in the Tulsa area have received the training. This program enlists citizen participation in crime prevention through neighborhood meetings where safety in the home and neighborhood are emphasized. In each neighborhood, we work to increase crime reporting, address community concerns and educate the residents on current crime trends.
  • 1996
    Citizen Alert Patrol Program – a three hour training course taught in conjunction with the Tulsa Police Department where citizens are trained to patrol their neighborhoods and observe, report and record suspicious activity. Currently there are 55 active CAP neighborhoods in the Tulsa area.
  • 2004
    ARREST Arson – anonymous tip line established to report arson suspects.
  • 2004
    Gang Advisory Council – The Council is a collaboration of businesses, religious, educational, counseling, law enforcement personnel and individual volunteers trying to eliminate gangs from our community. The mission is to minimize the impact of gangs in the community through comprehensive youth programs.
  • 2007
    Safe Escape – Safe Escape is a nationally recognized child-abduction/prevention and evasion program designed to teach families critical abduction-prevention and survival tactics. Safe Escape was developed in 1996 by former police officer Bob Stuber. The program was developed to combat this fear of child abduction and to empower parents and children. The program teaches practical prevention techniques in a manner that is neither frightening nor threatening and identifies common lures used by abductors to trick children and techniques for getting away from an abductor. The Crime Commission brought the program to Tulsa in 2007 and since that time over 40,000 elementary age children have received the training.
  • 2010
    NetSmartz – Capitalizing on the successful Safe Escape child safety program the Crime Commission teamed with Channel 8 and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to bring NetSmartz to area schools. This program has several age appropriate tracks that can be implemented in a power point presentation to large group settings as well as a hands-on computer lab course for smaller groups. We have also developed a track targeting parents to educate them on how to partner with their children to stay safe while online.
  • 2010
    Generation tXt – Generation tXt is a multi-faceted project designed by a diverse group of teens to help young teens and families practice safe driving, specifically by addressing the hazards of texting/emailing while driving.
  • 2015
    CPTED – Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

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 Tulsa Crime Stoppers is a program of 501c3 nonprofit, Crime Prevention Network, Inc. Through the generous support of individuals, communities, corporations and foundations, we remain Tulsa’s leading public safety non-profit since 1971.  Your gift helps us ensure a safe and successful future for all ages of Tulsa’s community. 

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