Crime Stoppers billboard highlights efforts to fight crime

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WAUKEGAN – There is not a day that goes by when Lake County residents can pick up a newspaper and not read about the problems in their communities associated with gangs, guns and drugs, Lake County Crime Stoppers executive director Andy Anderson said.

That’s why for the seventh year in a row, Lake County Crime Stoppers along with the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office are sponsoring a billboard that highlights how residents can fight back against crime in their communities.

The billboard, located at the corner of Washington and West streets in Waukegan, depicts a gang member with an illegal gun involved in the sale of drugs, Anderson said. It also contains information on how residents can contact Lake County Crime Stoppers to report illegal activity or individuals involved in crimes.

Although the picture on the billboard is designed to be eye-catching, the $1,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest that is advertised on the billboard also should draw interest, Anderson said.

“It’s the picture that will draw attention,” he said. “But with our economy with the way it is, money talks.”

Anderson has continued to have the sponsored billboards placed at the corner of Washington and West streets because it is an intersection with very high traffic and because of its close proximity to the Lake County courthouse.

Last year, tips called in to Lake County Crime Stoppers led to 109 illegal guns being taken off the streets, Anderson said. In January 2010 alone, 17 guns were taken off the street, and more than $1.3 million worth of drugs were confiscated as a result of anonymous tips called in to the organization, he said.

The crimes portrayed on the billboard are all interconnected, said Grayslake police Chief Larry Herzog, who was on a board of local police chiefs who helped develop the idea for the billboard.

Supporting the mission of Lake County Crime Stoppers is one way the department can continue its efforts in community policing, Herzog said.

“It’s a way of solving and preventing crime, while at the same time rewarding someone who might call in with a tip,” he said.

Every time a gun is taken off the street, or an arrest is made on someone selling drugs or in possession of an illegal weapon, it makes the whole county safer, Anderson said.

Even if it leads to taking just one additional illegal gun off the streets, it would make the billboard worth its price, he said.

“You can’t put a price on a life,” Anderson said. “If you save one life, it’s worth everything you have spent.”