Congratulations are in order for DeKalb County Police Capt. Jim Laben and a slew of anonymous tipsters.

Laben heads the DeKalb County Crime Stopper program. The program pays cash to those providing information leading to arrests.

That information translates to police recovering almost $840,000 in drugs and confiscated property and 282 arrests during the past eight years.

For the information, tipsters went to the bank with an estimated $80,000.

Efforts like Laben’s and the anonymous tipsters are a breath of fresh air. With the never-ending talk of how the world is going to hell in a hand basket, the program shows there are still people who care.

Often when people see a crime, the attitude is not to get involved. Laben and the Crime Stopper program obviously understand this and have gone to great lengths to work around this curve ball.

“We’ll play any cops and robbers game (tipsters) want to play to get them the money,” Laben said this week. “We’ve left money next to a tree in a forest preserve before.”

Unusual measures, to say the least. But the program is working. It is getting people to come forward. It’s getting arrests. It’s getting results.

Hopefully, the response will continue to grow and people will learn the old adage with a different twist; “Crime doesn’t pay, but reporting it might.”