As in previous years, DeKalb County residents continued their efforts to take a bite out of crime in 1991, and drug-related calls ranked among the highest, according to Crime Stoppers statistics.

Miscellaneous calls, which consist of anything from criminal damage to felonies, ranked the highest followed by drug-related calls.

The number of drug-related calls to Crime Stoppers during 1991 seems to have remained the same in comparison to previous years, said Capt. James Laben, DeKalb County Crime Stoppers coordinator.

Thirty-four percent of the incoming calls to Crime Stoppers were drug-related, Laben said.

He said the reason the drug-related calls are one of the highest categories of calls might not be because it is an increasing problem but because there is so much information about the topic.

“There is a lot more information (about drugs) that is more widely known,” he said. “When people deal drugs they usually deal to many people, not just one or two; therefore, you have more people who know about it and can report it.”

Laben said the number of all calls to Crime Stoppers has remained almost exactly the same during 1991, and the number of arrests made with the help of callers’ information has also

remained constant.

“Crime Stoppers is really a good program,” he said. “Crimes need to be investigated after they happen, and in order to do this, we need public information to help solve it, and that’s what we hope to get,” he said.

DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said he highly encourages people to call Crime Stoppers if they have any information about a crime.

He said drugs are a major problem between gang members.

Gang-related crimes such as the number of burglaries and other crimes against people are drug-related, he said.

“People that are concerned about gang or drug activity but are concerned about getting involved with police, should contact Crime Stoppers if they have any good information because they need that in order to help us,” he said.

Calls to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous. However, those who identify themselves might receive an award for information leading to an arrest or recovery of property. The award is based on the severity of the crime, the number of previous arrests the person might have, the amount of recovered property or the number of times the person has called with information.

Laben said the amount of recoveries is far beyond the number of awards.

“They (Crime Stoppers) help a great deal with arrests and give us a great deal of information to work with … it is a very effective organization,” Scott said.