Tag: Buddy Chapman

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News News Blog

Reward in Susan McDonald Murder Is $26,000

Susan McDonald

Anyone with a tip leading to the arrest of Susan McDonald’s killer will receive $26,000, announced CrimeStoppers director Buddy Chapman at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

McDonald was shot and killed in the driveway of her friend’s Cordova home on August 1st. She had just pulled into the driveway on Bazemore Road to pick up her friend for a race when someone driving past the home shot her. Memphis Police Chief James Ryall said an investigation is underway and wouldn’t reveal any details about the case at the conference.

“We’re looking at all angles, but I can’t get into specifics,” Ryall said.

McDonald’s family raised $25,000 in reward money using GoFundMe, and CrimeStoppers is contributing an extra $1,000. Chapman encouraged anyone with information to call 901-528-CASH.

“Calls to CrimeStoppers are totally anonymous. No one will ever know who you are,” Chapman said, emphasizing that CrimeStoppers does not have caller ID.

Last week, the Memphis Police Department released surveillance video that shows a dark-colored, mid-sized sedan with a Tennessee temporary tag that was seen fleeing the neighborhood after McDonald’s murder. 

The family is continuing to raise reward money on GoFundMe. They have a goal of $75,000.

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Calling the Bluff Music

Local Crime Stoppers Director Applauds Miami Official For Eating Tipster’s Info

CREDIT: miamiherald.com

Richard Masten, Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers director, eats tipsters information in court

  • youtube.com
  • Richard Masten, Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers director, eats tipster’s information in court

Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers Executive Director Richard Masten made national headlines for eating a wad of paper containing information from an anonymous tipster during court last week.

On Friday, March 14th, Masten was ordered by Miami Judge Victoria Brennan to provide information that the local division of Crime Stoppers received regarding a cocaine possession case to a defense attorney. The attorney didn’t want to know the tipster’s identity but simply the information the person provided in relation to the case, according to CBS Miami.

Masten, however, refused to turn the paper over and instead chewed it up. He was held in contempt of court, arrested, and fined for the action. He initially faced a maximum penalty of two years in jail for the offense but received a lighter sentence yesterday (March 20th) of probation. He has also been ordered to write a report on anonymous tip laws.

Masten said he did the act to limit the chances of the tipster’s identity being publicized. He also sought to protect the integrity of Crime Stoppers, an organization that has divisions across the globe, and guarantees tipsters anonymity when they provide information.

The abnormal occurrence made it on the radar of Buddy Chapman, the executive director for Crime Stoppers of Memphis and Shelby County. Chapman said he doesn’t think Masten’s actions were irrational.

“I think he was trying to make a point,” Chapman said. “I’m assuming that he didn’t have anything on that paper that would have identified the caller. I say that that information on the case. I think it’s ridiculous that we’re asked to provide it. I think it’s a fishing expedition on the part of the defense attorneys. I don’t have any real big heartburn about providing the time and date the call came in, nor I do I think that’s anything that I’d have to eat, but I do think he was probably making a point, and I do applaud him for that.”

Chapman said members of the local Crime Stoppers staff are frequently subpoenaed to court but are only able to divulge the time and date they received a tip and what the tip provider said.

“I understand that defense attorneys have got to mount the best defense for their crime, but if you really think about it, a tip is not proof of anything,” Chapman said. “It’s simply information passed on, which then has to be investigated and verified to be of any use for anything. It really gives police a starting point in most cases.”

Check out my cover story on the local Crime Stoppers division here.

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News The Fly-By

Q&A: Buddy Chapman

Police officers have to hit a lot of books before they hit the streets. But as part of Mayor Willie Herenton’s plan to hire an additional 650 police officers, the department’s minimal academic requirement would change from two years of college to a high school diploma.

In the early 1970s, prospective officers only had to complete high school. But when Buddy Chapman became the police director in 1976 — a job he held until 1983 — he quickly learned that many of the high school grads he’d hired were reading and writing at an eighth-grade level. Chapman hired an education professor to design curriculum for the police academy. The professor suggested requiring officers to complete two years of college, and Chapman took note, changing the requirements a year after he took office.

Now the executive director of Memphis CrimeStoppers, Chapman worries that relaxing the requirements may not be the best idea.

— by Bianca Phillips

Flyer: Before two years of college became a requirement, what sort of problems did you see?

Chapman: We had [officers] who were having a difficult time reading and filling out a traffic ticket and having problems functioning in court. We realized that a big portion of that was reading comprehension, English language, that type of thing.

What was your initial reaction?

I hired a professor [to work at the training academy]. Previous to that, the academy had always been headed up by a police officer, and I think it is today. I hired Fred Klyman to design the courses so that we’d not only get the required police courses in, but we’d also get the English, the comprehension, and the composition that was necessary. The academy had to [teach] what had not been attained in high school.

Did it make a difference?

Yes. We saw a decrease in the amount of paperwork that was incorrectly done or indecipherable. We saw an improvement in how the officers were able to relate to the legal system.

Why did you add the two-year college requirement?

It was based on [Klyman’s] recommendation. We thought if we required two years of college, we would get a better quality candidate. There’s more to education that simply what you learn out of the book. There’s the academic discipline of learning it.

What effect do you think relaxing that requirement could have on the department today?

They’d obviously have a bigger pool of candidates if they relaxed those things, and I’m sure that’s why they’re looking at it.