Money Pays Off

A series of college-campus pipe bombings had left Detroit police clueless and frustrated. Then a neatly typed letter turned up, naming Eileen Margaret Orr, 20, and Mark Peter Stevens, 21, as the bombers; more explosives, the letter said, could be found in the Orr suburban home. Last week police arrested the pair, charged them with a bombing at Oakland Community College, and reported finding some 20 sticks of dynamite concealed in a closet of the house.

The fruitful letter came not to police but to the Secret Witness program of the Detroit News, which offers sizable rewards to those whose information leads to a conviction for a crime in the Detroit area. The results have been remarkable. Since the program started in 1967, rewards have been offered in 99 cases. So far, $69,000 has been paid out and 31 criminals put in prison. Fifteen murders and three bank robberies have been solved through Secret Witness tips. If last week's arrests result in conviction, the letter writer, still unknown to the police, will get a $5,000 reward.

Anonymity Appeals. The arrest of Stevens and Miss Orr made it four crimes in as many days marked closed by police with the help of the News' program. Earlier, police acting on a Secret Witness tip arrested Charles Martin Fullwood for a March murder, and said ballistics tests showed his .38 caliber revolver had been used in two other slayings. The lead to Fullwood came after the offer of a $2,000 reward.

Apart from the appeal of the money, the promise of anonymity helps. Before turning any information over to police, the News removes all identification as to source. That is only one of a strict set of rules agreed upon by police and the paper. Police will not question the source of a tip, but promise to check it out and keep the News informed confidentially of their progress. For its part the News does not pursue leads on its own and publishes no stories on the investigation of tips until an arrest is made or a warrant issued. Though the bargain clearly restricts the reportorial role at the start of an investigation, the News winds up with exclusive background in later stories. The police, in turn, freely concede that the rewards--which come from a News standing fund of $100,000 or from other groups acting through the paper --have helped solve crimes that otherwise would still be on the books.

Patience Pays. The News first tried Secret Witness in 1950, but public apathy killed it. One staffer who never gave up on the idea was Boyd Simmons, then a reporter and now an assistant managing editor. Simmons, 58, revived the program and runs it personally. The program has been .a good circulation promotion (the News, at 653,000, is the biggest afternoon paper in the country) as well as a widely praised public service. "One of the reasons this program has succeeded is because there's just one man--me--dealing with the police," Simmons says. "The danger is letting this communication become too friendly. Occasionally the police will start to think of me as a cop. One mistake and an informant could be killed. I don't really want to know the name of the informant. All we want is the information."

The tips come to the News over a special telephone line or to a designated post office box. Writers code-number their letters so they can identify themselves to the News later should they qualify for a reward. "There's no way to generalize about informants," says Simmons. "Many are ex-cons, some are close friends of the criminal who need the money, and a few are good citizens who just don't want to get involved. Many times a person will come to us because there are too many information leaks with the police."

Other papers have tried similar programs, but none has done as well as the News. "Others get too impatient," Simmons says. "They try to pressure the informant. Once you start pursuing your tipster, you've lost him for good. You've got to practice patience along with persistence."

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