In July of 1976, in Albuquerque New Mexico, a university student was killed during a gas station robbery. After six weeks of investigation, the police had very few leads as to who was responsible. Police Detective Greg MacAleese thought that if the public was able to observe a reenactment of the crime on television this may lead to a citizen providing information that may lead to an arrest.

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Greg MacAleese was right. A caller contacted the police department the next day after seeing the reenactment. The tip information was enough to lead the police to the two men who were responsible. Within seventy-two hours of the reenactment being aired, the police had solved the murder. This was the beginning of Crime Stoppers.

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Since the program started, there are now more than 950 Crime Stoppers programs worldwide. More than 425,000 crimes solved since inception and over $2.9 billion Dollars worth of stolen property and narcotics has been seized. Locally, the Wichita Falls Crime Stoppers program is also very successful. Detailed amounts of arrests made, the stolen property recovered, and narcotics seized can be found on the Statistics Page.