SALISBURY — The local crime stoppers board has been reinstated, this time as the Rowan County Crime Stoppers, in an effort to help local law enforcement agencies acquire information that could help solve crimes.

The board was restarted at the request of Captain Mark McDaniel with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, who has worked alongside the board to help it get started as it works to become fully self-sustaining. Once that goal is reached, Lieutenant Ryan Barkley will serve as the liaison from the sheriff’s office to the independent board.

The first fundraiser will be a breakfast and lunch sale on Friday, June 7, in the sheriff’s office’s parking lot, located at 118 W. Liberty St. in Salisbury. The breakfast will be a sausage sandwich sale while the lunch will be a cheeseburger, chips and drink sale.

Anonymous tips can now be submitted through the crime stoppers’ webpage, which can be accessed through the county website under the sheriff’s office tab, at https://www.rowancountync.gov/1936/Rowan-County-Crime-Stoppers. Anyone who wishes to submit information can also call 1-866-639-5245. Tips are completely anonymous and submitted through an independent third party platform, P3Tips.

Once a tip is submitted on a crime or a wanted person, the information is given to the relevant law enforcement agency to investigate. The person who submitted the tip is given a coded number that allows them to call back and ask for information on the outcome of their tip, since the submission does not include any identifying information.

If the information has resulted in an arrest or conviction, then the information will be sent to the board of directors of the Rowan County Crime Stoppers. The members of the board will review the information and decide what the cash reward should be for the tip. Their decision is then sent back to the person who submitted the tip along with instructions about how to receive the reward.

The local crime stoppers board had been in operation for almost three decades when it was forced to shut down during the COVID pandemic due to personnel and funding issues. The new iteration of the board is chaired by former China Grove Town Manager Ken Deal with David Whisenant serving as vice-chairman.

Friday’s fundraiser will help the organization not just pay any rewards, but also pay for the tip line, which is available 24/7.

Anyone who wishes to donate to the board but cannot make it to the fundraiser can send cash or checks to Rowan County Crime Stoppers, 205 Lentz Rd., China Grove, NC 28023.