Baskets Filled With Amazing Items Saturday Could Keep You Safe

Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers is holding an in-person Basket Raffle on Saturday to raise funds to support cash rewards for people who anonymously offer tips that lead to an arrest regarding crimes or illegal activity they've witnessed.

Area businesses and community members have donated goods and services in baskets for the event, which people can bid on at the Rome VFW on Saturday from noon until 4 p.m.. All proceeds will benefit the Mohawk Valley Chapter of Crime Stoppers, which covers the Mohawk Valley region in Oneida, Herkimer and Madison Counties.

This is an excellent fundraising opportunity for the public to assist Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers (MVCS) in their mission to make our communities safer, according to Ed Schmidt who is the current MVCS Chairman. “We are a totally volunteer organization so every penny raised goes towards keeping our communities here in the Mohawk Valley safer places to live and work.”

Crime Stoppers is a unique organization that gives residents the opportunity to deliver tips on possible criminal activity to the authorities via telephone (1-866-730-8477), computer and the Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers App for smart phones. Tipsters are assigned a number for their tip and their name is never attached to the information. If the tip leads to an arrest, the tipster is contacted through the anonymous number and a cash reward is issued based on the severity of the crime. The reward is paid in private, in cash, and there is never a name attached to the information received, according to Schmidt.

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Recently, in the Utica shooting on Monday in which a 16-year-old female was shot in the chest while she was riding her bicycle in East Utica, police were met with "dangerous" resistance from the neighborhood when they pursued a lead of a direct eye witness.

Schmidt, a retired New Hartford Police Investigator and current Law Enforcement Training Director, explains that “Crime Stoppers is a nationally recognized program that enables anyone to provide information on crimes and criminal activity to our local Law Enforcement Agencies on a completely anonymous platform without the fear of retribution.”

Basket items up for raffle on Saturday include an "Everything for Your Dog" basket, Jets, Bills, Steelers and Utica College baskets, movie tickets, restaurant and store gift cards and much more.

For last minute information about the event, email rosebudmiz19@gmail.com.