PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Thursday, the Port Arthur Police Department along with Crime Stoppers of Southeast Texas hosted a meeting with community leaders, officials from the local housing complexes, the Port Arthur Housing Authority, and Port Arthur Independent School District. Their goal was to educate participants on how Crime Stoppers works, and how it can benefit their individual organizations.
Last year in Port Arthur, there were fourteen reported homicides. That's three times the city's yearly average. Five of those homicides happened in January alone.
Jana Barnes is the manager at Avery Trace Apartments in Port Arthur, where one of the homicides happened last March.
"I believe collectively as a community we have an issue we need to all work together to resolve," said Barnes.
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Barnes feels Thursday's Crime Stoppers meeting is a step in the right direction. She said she didn't realize how small the Crime Stoppers' presence was in Port Arthur. She's ready to help equip the residents at Avery Trace with what they need to know about Crime Stoppers.
"Just by spreading the word and empowering our residents to take charge of their homes by utilizing the program," said Barnes.
Barnes said she believes if more people knew how the program worked, and that the tips are actually totally anonymous, more people would participate.
Mayor Derrick Freeman was also present at Thursday's meeting. With more of the community on board, he's optimistic for the future of Crime Stoppers in Port Arthur.
"We're going to dust off the Crime Stoppers, bring back McGruff the crime dog, and curve some of the crime here in Port Arthur," said Freeman.
Freeman agreed with Barnes; community leaders have to get everyone else involved with Crime Stoppers in order to see changes in Port Arthur.
"It's going to take the community getting involved and making sure our city's moving in the right direction," said Freeman.
After Port Arthur's rocky start to 2018, Detective Mike Hebert feels getting the Crime Stoppers program out there early in 2019 can improve the start of this year.
"It's a huge deal for law enforcement to have this program in an attempt to stop the violent crimes or solve the violent crimes that are taking place in this city," said Hebert.
He hopes through Thursday's meeting, the community will become more aware of what Crime Stoppers is about, and encourage people to send in tips.
"That small tip could be the one that pushes an investigation to the next level," said Hebert.
