Diamond Bar City Council to Vote on Proposed Tipster Reward Program

The Diamond Bar City Council tonight will consider establishing a reward program for those who provide tips that lead to the arrest or conviction of a person damaging property during the course of a residential burglary.

The proposed program is aimed to combat property crimes in particular and would offer a "modest reward" of $100 to individuals that give a tip to authorities that result in the arrest of residential or burglary suspects in Diamond Bar, according to a staff report to council.

"Diamond Bar is home to an engaged citizenry whose cooperation with the Sheriff’s Department has resulted in a number of important recent arrests," staff wrote in the report. "To further encourage residents, business owners, and other members of the public to immediately report suspicious activity to the Sheriff’s Department, a reward program is proposed."

After receiving a witness tip that leads to an arrest of a suspect, the Sheriff's Department would forward a recommendation form to the Reward Committee for consideration.  The committee, likely made up of the city manager and a sworn member of the city's public safety leadership team, would review the recommendation, validate the information, and give the award.

Tipsters would be kept anonymous to keep from discouraging other witnesses from coming forward in the future, according to staff.

If the council approves the program, public safety budget salary savings would be used to fund the program for the 2013-14 fiscal year. The annual costs are expected to total $2,000.

The Diamond Bar City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.