National Human Trafficking Awareness month with Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County

Stepping into the shadows of a world that many of us hope to never encounter, Angela Bernard and Cindy Lopez with Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County join me to uncover the grim realities of human trafficking in our backyards. These brave voices from Place of Hope and Crime Stoppers shine a light on the darkness, revealing how their partnership and an anonymous tip line are not just tools, but lifelines in the community's fight against this pervasive crime. We discuss the surge in trafficking tips, the interplay of fraud and narcotics, and the power of events like the Light in the Shadows Luncheon in rallying awareness and support.

This episode is more than just a discussion; it's a tribute to resilience. Prepare to be moved by the personal battles of human trafficking survivors, whose stories are both heartbreaking and hopeful. From the labor trafficking of three siblings to Doug's and Tabitha's agonizing paths through exploitation, these narratives are testament to the importance of every tip reported. We discuss the increased rewards for tips leading to arrests, and how each piece of information weaves together a larger picture that aids law enforcement in their pursuit for justice.

Our journey concludes by exploring the essence of Crime Stoppers' mission and its synergies with Palm Beach's public safety initiatives. We delve into the critical importance of anonymity in crime reporting, underscoring how it empowers individuals to speak up and potentially save lives. As we set our sights on 2024, aiming for heightened community interaction and education, I invite you to become an Ambassador of Hope and join the conversation on social media to ensure the safety and bright future of every child.

Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County links:

More information on Cruisin' for Crime Stoppers ride on Jan. 27, 2024

Report a crime Online

You can help. Anonymously. Call: 800-458-TIPS (8477) or **TIPS

Host: Charles L. Bender III, Founding CEO and Board Member of Place of Hope

Title Sponsor: Crypto Capital Venture | Follow Dan Gambardello's on Twitter (@cryptorecruitr)

Link:  Visit the Place of Hope Website, PlaceOfHope.com

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Email the Show: POHPodcast@PlaceOfHope.com 

Transcript

Charles Bender: 0:01

Hello and thank you for tuning in to Ambassadors of Hope. I'm your host, charles Bender. We're so excited that you've tuned in to hear from local South Florida leaders who are making a difference in our community and region through our charity Place of Hope.

Maya Elias: 0:19

Hello and welcome to Ambassadors of Hope, a podcast by Place of Hope. I'm your producer, maya Elias. In this episode we have the honor of having Angela Bernard and Cindy Lopez with Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County. Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County is partnering with Place of Hope to combat human trafficking. The partnership aims to utilize Crime Stoppers' anonymous tip line to gather information on human trafficking cases and provide rewards for tips that lead to arrests. Since the launch of the partnership, there has been a significant increase in human trafficking tips received. Crime Stoppers works closely with law enforcement agencies and the community to raise awareness and provide a safe outlet for affording crimes. The organization is focused on evolving its technology and expanding its social media presence to reach a wider audience.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 1:06

All right, well, ladies, welcome. My name is Jamie Bond Ciancio, I'm the director of advancement development here at Place of Hope, and joining me here today is Angela, the executive director of Crime Stoppers, and we have Cindy, who is our law enforcement coordinator for Crime Stoppers. You want to tell us a little bit about your roles and then we'll jump into how we got connected in our partnership with Crime Stoppers.

Angela Barnard: 1:29

Sounds good. Thanks, Jamie. I am the executive director for Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County. We are one of 23 different Crime Stoppers throughout the state and my role is to pretty much keep the business of Crime Stoppers going and coordinate with our law enforcement coordinator, Cindy.

Cindy Lopez: 1:47

Hi, and I'm Cindy, so I'm the law enforcement coordinator and the tip coordinator, so I handle all the tips that come in through our 800 line, our website and our mobile app, and then I also coordinate with all the agencies as far as, like, there's any particular cases that they want publicized through us, offer rewards, and then I send them to their different departments based on what kind of tip we get Fantastic.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 2:10

How many agencies are you guys working with? 32. 32. And that's across the county, just Palm Beach.

Cindy Lopez: 2:15

County, just Palm Beach County.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 2:17

That's crazy. Well, let's talk a little bit about just what is this partnership. It's a new partnership. It's a very exciting partnership, how it kind of came about and what it looks like from a 30,000 foot view.

Angela Barnard: 2:29

We had some supporters in common between our two organizations, that kind of thought there might be some collaboration opportunities. So we started talking oh, it's been months now, probably about six months in process on what we do and what we do well from the Crime Stopper standpoint with tips and anonymous tipsters, and the protections we have and how that could help improve with human trafficking and tips that might come in for that.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 3:00

And this is the first relationship that you've really had that focuses specifically on human trafficking, right? Yes, because what are some of the other crimes that people would give tips on?

Cindy Lopez: 3:09

I mean we get tips on a bunch of different things. homicides are our biggest one. Fraud lately has been a really big one with the scams that happen electronically. All that especially with holidays that just happened. We also get a lot of narcotics tips. That's probably our second largest one is all the narcotics tips and fugitives.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 3:27

And I think what's really cool about Place of Hope and what we do is we're very entrepreneurial and our CEO, Charles, is very entrepreneurial, and we have donors and supporters and board members who are also in that like mind and, like you said, we have some mutual supporters and we're really fighting the same fight in a lot of ways, but from different aspects. So I know we had one gentleman a one ,gentleman set forward forward, and just said what would that look like? How can we utilize these great resources in the community and how can we get behind it and how can I steward my resources to help put an end to this fight from a different perspective? Right, Place of Hope is caring for survivors of trafficking and we're focusing on the intervention and prevention of those that are in care. But then how do we get the community involved? How do we get that information out there? And you guys have some great success stories. I know you'll talk a little bit about just some of the markers that you've seen so far, but I think we're just we're very, very excited about it. We announced it.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 4:22

You were at the Light in the Shadows Luncheon. What were your thoughts on the luncheon? It was overwhelming.

Angela Barnard: 4:26

I mean the videos that you showed it was you know really, really reached down to your heart. They were great stories and it was amazing to see all the supporters there.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 4:35

You guys are a part of that. It's kind of cool 700, primarily women, right, but all very excited and it's a heavy topic. But I think we did a pretty good job of leaving people inspired. And you mentioned that just in this short period of time since we've really officially launched and that was one of our official launch dates you've gotten a lot of tips so far, right.

Cindy Lopez: 4:53

Oh, absolutely yeah. In all of 2022 to 2023, we got maybe a total of like six or seven tips of human trafficking, and then, just from Thanksgiving to now, we've gotten 14.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 5:06

So double, double in one month, yeah, in one month. So that's absolutely incredible, so we're excited for that. So, cindy or Angela, can you share some insights into the current state of maybe what you're seeing from your end for Palm Beach County and, as a whole, maybe some specific challenges faced by some people that you might be interfacing with?

Cindy Lopez: 5:25

Yeah, so I have been in law enforcement previously for seven, six years. I was in dispatch for six years. So through that in Palm Beach County I saw how much human trafficking is all around us. We would get calls all the time about just certain people looking suspicious or certain situations that they encountered, and it makes you really realize that we're not immune to it. And then also, with our Belgrade area out there, human trafficking has is in so many different forms that we even get stories out there. And as a minority I have seen it too with people that I know firsthand when they explain certain situations and you're just like you know that's not right. Florida, being surrounded by international waters, is just such hot commodity state for that. And then Palm Beach County alone I've seen that we get a lot of landings. We have a lot of people who come here with like a pretense of something like with beaches filled with street work, like walkers and stuff that you have no idea of. They're doing this by force, right.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 6:31

Right, yeah, that's one of the. The focus is that we have a place of hope, of spending a lot of time trying to educate community on what is human trafficking, what does that look like? And and even leading up to and grooming and kind of what that looks like. A lot of people will say and I think you saw, heard me say it in the video at light, in the shadows, is a lot of people think it's stranger danger and it's this white van pulling up. But there's so much more right. There's domestic servitude.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 6:54

Maya and I were talking about that this morning. Just she was just in Dominican Republic and just saw just what we're so privileged here and what our world looks like is so different in a different country. But the domestic servitude we're seeing it a variety of ways and what street based prostitution looks like in Riviera Beach versus maybe Boglade versus Viral Beach, and really trying to help the community understand what that looks like. And then focusing on the grooming and kids that are in middle schools and high schools and what they're being affected and how they're being impacted by sex distortion and there's just so many ways. The gangs in Boglade, a lot of the gangs and one of the young ladies that came through our care. She's been with us for years, mary. She's a fantastic young lady and you know we just thank God that she ended up coming to place of hope. But she said that she's from Boglade.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 7:41

There really was, you played football or you survived, and if you're a lady you don't play football. So what options are there? So you know there's just a lot of opportunities. So helping people understand what that looks like and not necessarily just passing judgment on oh, I see this lady walking the street, you know for crack or whatever, but really helping focus on what are the signs of that? Is there's something wrong? Is, you know, for a teacher that's seeing a child, a student coming into class, always being late or coming with some sort of you know, bruises or marks or cuts or just different things, trying to help awaken, right our community so they, they can react appropriately, they can make those types of phone calls. So if somebody does want to report a tip, what does that look like? How would they do that?

Cindy Lopez: 8:20

so what they? They have three options to report tips to crime stoppers. You can call our 800 line, which goes to a call center that's 24 7, or you can go online on our website. There's a form that you fill out all the information. We also have an app called p3 tips. Then the more simplified number, which is one that john walsh is working with this on, is like the star star tips. That is statewide so, and I actually think it's national now right right.

Angela Barnard: 8:44

So so it started in the state of Florida. Attorney General Ashley moody kind of coordinated that and now they've been promoting it. So florida was first and, yes, it's going national yep, so star, star tips anywhere you are anywhere.

Cindy Lopez: 8:58

Basically, it'll get your tip to the correct crime stoppers for the area that you want to report it. The app is also pretty easy because it just goes based off state, then county, and then from there it'll go to the correct one once you select the county that you're in.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 9:10

So I want to get into in a minute what the actual partnership is and what that match looks like, because people need to know about that, of course, but we're talking about the tipsters right now. So how are we protecting those keeping their information anonymous? You know, if they're going on an app, what are you doing about that and what does that look like?

Cindy Lopez: 9:27

So the call center that we use is in Canada, so we the calls don't ever come directly to me, unless the tips or requests to speak directly to me. I do not have caller ID on my phone. The phone numbers don't come through our call center and myself. We never ask for name, no emails, no phone numbers, nothing that identifies yourself. When tips come in through the web or the mobile app, I get them all and I inspect them and I can edit them to edit out any identifying information before it goes to law enforcement, so nobody will ever know who you are. If you did somehow identify yourself, I remove it and that's just something you know, based on crime stoppers that I will never reveal either.

Angela Barnard: 10:04

Right, absolutely. In addition to that. So there's multiple layers from a technology standpoint that protects tipsters, but in the state of Florida there's also a law to protect tipsters and the tips that we receive, so that we can't be compelled to provide any information, even if we, you know, had something that might lead someone to figure out. Someone was awesome.

Maya Elias: 10:29

Hello and welcome to the segment entitled seat of hope. Today we would like to share with you all three stories of either current or former residents of place of hope who are human trafficking survivors. Our first story at 12 and 16 years old, three siblings were brought from their home country with their parents to the US for a better life. Upon arrival, the traffickers stripped them of their visas that the traffickers afforded for them. Not knowing the language, not knowing where they were and not knowing the culture, the family was terrified that they would be deported or that their children would be murdered. They were forced into labor trafficking. They spent 18 hours a day working only to not keep most of their money. Threatened by force and fraud, the children and family were indebted to their traffickers. Story number two Doug had been physically and sexually abused as a child. As a result, he was brought into the foster care system. Such trauma led Doug into a dark place. He ran away from foster care and found himself on the streets. After days without food or dry and warm place to sleep, doug met a man who offered them those things filling his needs. Over time, the man built rapport with Doug and he felt safer with him than alone and starving, until the day came when Doug was faced with repaying the man through commercial sex, embarrassed, feeling trapped and not knowing where else to go or how he complied.

Maya Elias: 11:42

For most of her childhood, tabitha's mom was incarcerated. She grew up not knowing her mom and not knowing what it felt like to have a mom. At 12 years old, tabitha's mom was released from jail and for the first time she was able to lovingly embrace the woman she yearned for her whole life. Her mom told her that she was sick and that Tabitha could help her get better. She explained her sickness was a drug addiction and the only way to help her get better was to continue using. And the only way that she could afford her habit was if Tabitha slept with men for money and gave her mom the money. Her mom reminded Tabitha that she loved her and she was so proud of her and, more than anything, needed her help. And more than anything, tabitha wanted to be loved and seen by her mom. So she complied. Tabitha was trafficked by her mom at 12 years old.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 12:26

Well, and let's talk about what the tips is. So what is this reward? Do you want to tell us about this incentive? Tell us about what you guys are doing already and then what this incentive looks like and what that really amounts to.

Angela Barnard: 12:36

Sure, so the board of directors for crime stoppers. They are volunteers, they must live in the county and they get together once a month to evaluate the tips that have resulted in arrests. So we look at those. There is a point system depending on the type of crime Did we recover stolen property or narcotics, things like that that determines how much the tip is valued at. We range anywhere from $100,000 to $3,000, depending on that, and we were lucky enough to collaborate with you and you're able to come in and match up to $2,000 for our tips that leads to human trafficking arrests. So you're looking at potentially up to $5,000 for human trafficking tips.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 13:23

That's fantastic, that's amazing. We hope that that is an incentive enough. I mean, it's hard to say if that really is, but to have such numbers, I believe it is.

Cindy Lopez: 13:32

I mean, we offer an option sometimes to agencies and families to add additional rewards for their family members case and I have noticed that when, for example, a homicide reward is up from $3,000 to $6,000, we do tend to get more response like more tips. Come in for it. Yes, sometimes some of them don't need anywhere, but the more information that gets out there, the more that it can help agencies get somewhere.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 13:59

Absolutely. And people have asked unrelated to crime stoppers, but related in the conversation. People have asked before if they're calling the Pleyris Project or the National Human Trafficking Hotline and I'm not really sure if I'm seeing something. Really, should I make that phone call? And I always encourage them to, because you don't always realize there could be other pieces that are out there and you could just be that missing link, that missing puzzle piece that really helps bring it all together. What would you say to that?

Cindy Lopez: 14:25

I have some tips that I, every time I get a tip, I search it through the database to see if anything else has come in in that area that's similar, similar descriptions, similar situations, and if it does, I make sure to compile that like could be related because, you're right, it could all as one form, something Absolutely. Did you have anything you wanted to add to?

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 14:46

that?

Angela Barnard: 14:47

No, that's pretty much what Cindy said, plus it may be something where we get something now that doesn't lead to an arrest this month, but then someone else notices something else and they report it and it builds on that because, like Cindy said, she keeps track.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 15:01

Yeah absolutely so. Let's take it back in a. So it's the new year. We just wrapped up 2023. We're kicking off 2024. It's National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, so we're excited to have you here. But you guys so we've been around since 2001,. But you guys, Crime Stoppers, have been around since 1981. Is that correct? Yes, so tell us a little bit about just how you evolved. You know what? Maybe some future plans or strategies. Do you have to really continue to impact Palm Beach County? And then, what does it look like for South Florida as a?

Angela Barnard: 15:29

whole. So evolution, wise from a technology aspect, is always funny. When I joined and learned that they took these tips, there was a single phone that was the Crime Stoppers phone, you know, and they're taking the tips Like the Batphone.

Cindy Lopez: 15:42

Yeah, exactly, I think the last time was. 2015 was the last time we stopped using that notebook. It is a literal notebook where they were writing each tip down the ID, the information, the case number for the agency. Like it's crazy, that's awesome, so it's nice.

Angela Barnard: 16:00

You know, technology is kept up. Now we've got the app, we've got the star star tips, so people have multitude of ways to reach us and we also have a lot more collaboration between the different Crime Stoppers organizations throughout the country because of that. So I'm excited. It's my first year as executive director and having these community outreaches because we've got Place of Hope. We've also reached out with inner city innovators, so we've got some other outreaches. We do the tip portion of things really well. We're very proud of that. But it's nice for our board members and our volunteers to see that the next step is something like Place of Hope being able to help after that tip and that arrest is made, what happens. So it's finishing the story for us, which is nice.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 16:52

That's awesome, that's awesome, and you have an event coming up January 27th.

Angela Barnard: 16:58

So this is our biggest event that we have hosted now. This is our 13th year. It's called Cruisin' for Crime Stoppers and it is a community awareness event as well as a fundraiser for us, and we invite the entire community to come out Village of Wellington Amphitheater that morning. We're going to have about 500 motorcycles that will ride 100 miles through the county and basically spread the word of Crime Stoppers and we will have food and music and all that kind of good stuff afterwards. If you don't know what Crime Stoppers is, come out and learn more about us.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 17:36

So you don't have to ride a motorcycle to attend. You do not. You can still come out and support Yep.

Angela Barnard: 17:41

So after the motorcycles come back in around 1 pm, join us for the after party live music. Everything is open to the public.

Cindy Lopez: 17:49

Graffles and everything. Lots of great prizes. There you go.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 17:51

And you mentioned it was a fundraiser. So what does that particularly go for?

Angela Barnard: 17:56

It goes towards our operations. It goes somewhat towards our tips, our rewards that we pay out. So some of the tips we get funds from different sources and some of the tips, if they don't lead to an arrest. Sometimes our board members are like that person really put themselves out there. Or it might be especially in student Crime Stoppers in the schools, where it might not lead to an arrest but it might lead to some services being offered to a student or a family and in those cases we feel it's important to be able to provide them with rewards. So that's where that money goes.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 18:36

Talk a little bit about student Crime Stoppers. We haven't talked about that yet.

Cindy Lopez: 18:38

Yeah, so I actually was going to touch base on that. Perfect, because one of the things I was going to say earlier too is you know, palm Beach County has a lot of stay homes for kids, foster care homes, so I know that those are a huge target. So for these kids that are in high school to know that they have an outlet. There's so many school programs that you can report to, but unfortunately, crime Stoppers is the only truly anonymous one. Some of the other ones they still ask for a phone number. They still ask for your first name at least, and your school, whereas Crime Stoppers won't ask you anything at all.

Cindy Lopez: 19:10

So for student Crime Stoppers, we offer rewards of up to $1,000 if it happened on campus, but that doesn't mean you can only report things that happen on campus. You can report things that have happened outside of campus. We are forming a really great relationship with a lot of the school resource officers, so a lot of them actually have students who come to them, but then they tell these students to go to Crime Stoppers to eliminate their potentially having to testify being identified, because that's ultimately one of the reasons I do have a lot of agencies that are happy to tell people to go to Crime Stoppers. It's because people want to stay safe and they know that if they say something and someone finds out, they may not be safe. So we offer that safety outlet.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 19:52

Yeah, that's awesome. That's really good to know. I had a group of women that I went and spoke. I did a presentation a couple of months ago and they said we've been wanting to have somebody come talk about human trafficking for so long but we're actually fearful that if we are known as a group of people that are helping spread awareness about human trafficking, that it could put our safety at risk. And it's kind of heartbreaking and it's heartening to hear that is the case but that's the truth. So that's awesome that you guys offer that in those schools and that the SROs are on board, and that's awesome.

Maya Elias: 20:25

Hello and welcome to this segment entitled Hope and Action. For this segment of Hope and Action, we would like to share some history about Human Trafficking Awareness Month. January is observed as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the United States since 2010. The month is dedicated to raising awareness about human trafficking and educating the public on identification and prevention. The US Department of State collaborates with US embassies and consulates to promote awareness globally. The initiative traces back to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, or known as the TVPA, with President Barack Obama officially declaring January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in 2010.

Maya Elias: 21:06

President Biden has continued this tradition, emphasizing the commitment to protecting survivors, prosecuting traffickers and ending human trafficking. Presidential proclamations highlight key policy achievements, such as the Executive Order in 2012, the Formation of the US Advisory Council on Human Trafficking in 2016, the launch of the program to end modern slavery in 2017, and the updated National Action Plan in 2021. Human trafficking encompasses forced labor and sex trafficking, and this poses a threat to global peace, security and human dignity. Over 27.6 million people, including those in the US, are estimated to be victims of human trafficking. The COVID-19 pandemic has not deterred traffickers who exploit vulnerabilities caused by natural disasters and conflicts. Many countries, following the 3-P Paradigyam preventing, protecting and prosecuting have implemented anti-trafficking laws. Despite international efforts, however, traffickers still persist, prompting a call to action in every presidential proclamation for individuals to play a crucial role in combating human trafficking.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 22:18

I want to talk in a minute about how you both got involved and what led you into this, but as you were talking, it made me wonder in what ways you talked about there's 32 agencies you're working with. So what other ways is Crime Stoppers engaging with law enforcement, engaging with the media and engaging with the community in general to get the word out there? Like you said, you guys do such a great job, but how are you getting that word out there and how can we help get that out there?

Angela Barnard: 22:45

So you've probably seen a billboard or a bus stop that we've got our materials at. So that's just general kind of for people passing by. We do a lot of community outreach. We're gonna be at Garlic Fest, we're you know, different things like that. Community events, we reach out. We've gone to speak at different schools from elementary, middle, high school colleges, so trying to get that information out there. We are building much more on our social media platforms because we want to be able to reach a younger audience, Absolutely.

Cindy Lopez: 23:22

Along with the social media. You know I've been really trying to get our following up there with like Instagram and Facebook primarily, but we've talked about possibly doing reels and starting to do like little clips with detectives and things like that. I have started to reach out to a lot of agencies to do kind of like a Crime Stoppers training course at their new hires. So we're doing one this month actually with Riviera Beach at their training. We're doing a presentation. That way they all know what we offer, what they can send to us, cause a lot of them they only think they can send high profile stuff to us but we'll take anything we do animal abuse and then we want to let them know about the human trafficking, because we know that there's a lot of agencies that have task force specifically for that. So if they know that now we're offering this incentive, they know that they could possibly send victims or previous victims that have information but are scared to us.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 24:13

Absolutely. Oh, that's fantastic. That's so good to hear. So let's go back and talk about you. Know how you got involved, what brought you here, cause you've been here now a year as the executive director.

Angela Barnard: 24:22

I was a board member prior to that. So I am a small business owner here in Palm Beach County. I've been here for over 20 years. Someone brought me in as a board member and, like I said, you know it's interesting to hear. It's, you know, kind of heartbreaking to hear some of the stories, but I felt like we were doing something good. We wanted to get that word out there and I think part of what makes you realize people want to do the right thing. A lot of the rewards go unclaimed.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 24:51

When I heard that, it was very interesting to me that that's the case.

Angela Barnard: 24:54

Yeah, so we. I think they about 30% of our rewards get claimed and the rest of them just go back into our funds. But so as a board member that was you know I was hooked, and then, when the opportunity came up to become executive director, I thought, yep, that's, I'm ready to do something different. That's awesome. So, harold, and you still run a business full time I do have the business, but I'm kind of phasing out of that.

Cindy Lopez: 25:22

Yeah.

Cindy Lopez: 25:22

And then what about you, cindy? So I've been in law enforcement for quite a bit. I was a judicial assistant for a felony judge for about three years and then I started dispatch, did that for six years and then family kind of made me switch tolls on like hours and stuff. But since being in Crime Stoppers it's I've always had a passion for like investigative things and with Crime Stoppers it gives me that opportunity to do it. But then also you get some sense of like you're doing the right thing because it's like you're helping solve these cases for people with these tipsers and every tipster I've ever spoken to. When it comes to the reward process, they have been so grateful. A lot of them are so surprised at how much they're getting. Some of them are surprised they're even getting anything. So it's just been really rewarding. And now I've got this passion for it with Crime Stoppers. It's like I really want to build their social media. I want to do all these things.

Angela Barnard: 26:13

So having some fun with it, she and I, because we're we've both been in these positions only a little over a year and I'm just under a year. It's been fun, new energy and we're kind of building off of each other on our skills.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 26:28

That's exciting, that's really cool. So do either one of you or both of you have, just in your short period of time at least and you've been, you know, for a while but is there any story that really stands out to you? That's like. This is why we do it, like this is why I get up every day and this is what I, you know, really focus on, so anything that just really just warms your heart.

Cindy Lopez: 26:45

I mean just in Crime Stoppers alone. You know we got a tip once and I know you'll remember this one because it was a pretty like oh my God, we got a tip once where they were calling to report, you know, about the safety of a child. So you know I was able our call center is amazing, they are 24 seven. This tip came in at like three o'clock in the morning and they called me right away so that I could look at it and as soon as I did I sent it. I was like, okay, go ahead and call the police and have them dispatch immediately. So they did. They were able to recover the child, they were safe, like the mother was arrested.

Cindy Lopez: 27:17

It's just those kind of things. It's like you do this for a reason, because apparently it was a situation that's a recurring incident that was happening, and because somebody was able to feel safe enough to call us and we responded that quickly, like a child's life was possibly saved, so that kind of stuff. And then just working in law enforcement, there's so many times where it's like what you're doing serves a purpose. It's a thankless job, but it's. You get the thanks and the satisfaction that you're doing something right for the community.

Angela Barnard: 27:47

I think some of what reaches my heart is some of these people, the victims especially. So we've had this situation where I think you received a call out of out of the western part of the county and you know this mom tried everything she could to keep a child safe and in the end got involved and he was murdered and that's a sad, horrible situation. But at least we're able to try and help her, get some closure, get some justice. So try and help that situation where we get the tips that can possibly put the culprit under arrest.

Cindy Lopez: 28:26

And I will say a lot of my homicide families. They really touch my heart because the police, the police, they do a lot but they can't be upfront with everything they're doing right away to not impact their investigation. So when they call me and I'm able to put up a poster of their child that they can drive by every day, like those little things it's, you know, they're so appreciative of it and all of it a lot of times the first question is how much will that cost me? And I'm so happy that I can tell them nothing. It'll cost you nothing.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 28:59

That's awesome. Anything that we haven't covered that you want to share, talk about. Ask Maybe some 2024 goals For me, at least for Crime Stoppers.

Cindy Lopez: 29:08

My goals are really to up the amount of. I mean, we already get so many tips, but I really want to up it, like the more information we can get, the better. I want to really up our social media, you know, keep bringing awareness to it. One of the biggest things that I think I've found out is that a lot of people know who we are and might know what we are, but they don't know how we work. And once they find out how we work and how we truly are anonymous, from the moment you call us to the moment you get your money like they're amazed. Because that's the biggest one is how do I get money if I'm anonymous? We have a safe, solid process on how you get your reward. We will never know who you are. No one will.

Angela Barnard: 29:49

We've had some funny results out Well, what about this, what about that? And we're like nope, this is how we handle that, that's how we handle that situation, so it's funny how that works out. The other thing that we're really focusing on is we want people to understand that Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County is an independent, not-for-profit organization. We are not part of law enforcement. So, while a lot of your law enforcement agencies may have their own tip lines, we are the anonymous tip line. So Anonymous, okay.

Cindy Lopez: 30:17

And I think the biggest thing too is a lot of people think ours is for arrest and conviction, because a lot of the agencies who have their own tip line do advertise arrest and conviction. We are just arrest. We also, on certain occasions, will pay out for recovery of property and narcotics, depending on what it is. I know we have talked about with the human trafficking collaboration. If there's recovery of victims, that is something that will be considered for a reward as well.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 30:41

Yeah, arrest and recovery in a human trafficking investigation yeah, that's awesome. Well, I think it's really cool because I mean so to know that you guys have been around since 1981, it makes sense. So I was born in 1983. I've grown up hearing about Crime Stoppers and it's like that billboard, like you said. You know it's there but you don't really know what it is or what it was. So when Charles said, hey, I think we're going to do this thing with Crime Stoppers, I'm like that's awesome. But what is the thing? How's this going to work? So it's just been a privilege. It's been awesome to really get to know you ladies and just your hearts, and we're excited for you.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 31:14

And I know we have some co-branded materials. We have our Rack Card, so that's co-branded. We handed those out all at the light and the shadows, as well as your information. So the student Crime Stoppers as well as this one, all of that went in. All of this information is available for anybody who wants. We have it on social. We're going to be tagging you a lot in the month of January as it's National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. You know we want to get that information out to people really what human trafficking looks like having them understand what it looks like in its boys and girls and its all ages, and there's multiple varieties of human trafficking and victims and predators that are out there. So we're very excited to be working with you. I think that pretty much wraps us up, unless you have anything else you want to add.

Angela Barnard: 31:54

No, we are excited as well because this collaboration will lead us to potentially others with other other organizations in the county. That helps us get our word out as well.

Cindy Lopez: 32:03

Yeah, and if you're ever at an event, especially our Murder Secreide, all the materials for this collab will also be at our event, at any future events that we go to, because we do go to what probably like one a month, if not two a month. Yeah, yeah, we had the Public Safety.

Jamie Bond Ciancio: 32:17

Expo. Right, I bet you guys were there and we'll be. At the Cruisin' for Crime Stoppers We'll be there. I won't be there, but the team will be there. We're excited. We're happy to be partnering.

Charles Bender: 32:26

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