Plan Gives Students An Incentive To Snitch

Students from the Idaho Falls and Bonneville school districts eventually may get paid $10 to $50 for tattling on classmates.

Bonneville County Crime Stoppers is trying to get each district to start a junior Crime Stoppers program in every middle, junior and senior high school.

“It’s comparable to the one we have in the county, only they would deal with misdemeanor crimes. We deal with felony crimes,” said David Smith, director of Bonneville County Crime Stoppers.

Under the proposal, student boards would reward classmates for giving information about school-related crimes, such as vandalizing lockers, stealing textbooks and bringing drugs or weapons to school.

Bonneville School Board members thought it was a good idea and recently gave Smith permission to work with each secondary school principal to start the program in their building.

Idaho Falls School Board members heard the proposal for the first time Tuesday night and may act on it this week, Superintendent Dale Manning said.

Crime Stoppers is willing to give each school $300 in seed money to start the program, but wants school officials and students to find ongoing funding, Smith said.