A 12-member student committee will be charged with setting the reward amounts.
Students call the hotline, give a tip and get a code number.
If the information pans out, the student can call back with the code number and arrange to meet with an officer to receive the money. The program is so extensive that authorities have difficulty raising enough money to pay informants, said Charlotte police investigator David Wilson. Student informants are also rewarded with T-shirts, gift certificates, pizzas, autographed baseballs, and other prizes, according to University of Arkansas criminologist Mary Parker. The logical extension, she said, will be for schools to implement the programs in increasingly lower grades. University of Maryland criminologist Denise Gottfredson said such programs create the wrong atmosphere in schools.