Students who want to report a crime on campus have one of two tiplines to call.

“Helping to keep you, your campus and your community safe,” is one of the mottos of the service.

“The tipline was created to ensure the safety of students, faculty and staff on campus,” said Kanosha Leonart, tipline board of directors chairwoman.

It also provides an additional option to report illegal activity on campus, said Jenine Povlsen, a NIU tipline board member.

“The effectiveness of the tipline depends on three things,” Povlsen said. “People have the opportunity to report things and probably feel more comfortable reporting to the tipline rather than the police. This way, they remain anonymous. Another factor is that most calls result in findings if the perpetrator is a student. Third, the tipline has a deterrent value because people would think twice about a crime if they were likely to get caught.”

Povlsen said the tipline was set up to deal with common crimes such as theft and property damage.

“The tipline usually receives about 15 calls per semester,” Povlsen said. “If we were getting 100 calls, we would have a crime problem on campus. The majority of students here are civilized people.”

Leonart said that students are rewarded only if their call is investigated or if it leads to an arrest.

“All calls are confidential, and the caller has to call back to see if their call did lead to an investigation or an arrest,” Leonart said. “If it did, then the operator would lead the caller to their cash reward, which is a blind cash pick-up.”

Blind cash pick-ups are arranged by the operator at a certain location, according to the tipline Web site, www.stuaff.niu.edu/tipline/rewards.htm. The location will have a cash envelope along with the caller’s code number, given on the first phone call.

The reward ranges from $25 to $250, Povlsen said. The amount of the reward is decided by the board and depends on the severity of the crime, how it affected others, if it led to an arrest and if there was any information about the suspects.

Crimestoppers is related to the NIU Tipline, said Detective John Sietsema, Crimestoppers coordinator.

“Crimestoppers is a national organization developed to help lead to arrests for crimes,” Sietsema said.

Crimestoppers started in 1976 and was developed at the DeKalb Police Department in 1982. This organization covers the entire county and includes a board of appointed members, Sietsema said.

“The NIU Tipline is basically the same program as Crimestoppers but at a different level,” Povlsen said.

People that have any leads to a crime can call Crimestoppers’ tipline, Sietsema said. If the tip leads to an arrest, the person who called might receive a reward, depending on the type of crime.

“Since 1982, there have been 1,401 calls,” Sietsema said. “Of those calls, 657 cases were solved, and the value of recovered property and drugs was $1,035,706, and there was $123,405 in reward money. For every $.10 in reward money, we get $1 back in property or drugs.”

The tipline receives a little over one call per week, Sietsema said, with a minimum of prank calls. The program has been very effective in solving cases, Sietsema said.

“The image of this campus affects students, and they should be interested in it,” Povlsen said.