Crime pays: Tipsters who call Crime Stoppers aren't always doing so for the money, officials say.

San Juan police were at a standstill this past year in their search for a suspected serial-armed robber. That is, until someone close to him called the tip line and identified the culprit.

And in McAllen, days after Juan Efrain Robles allegedly shot and killed Jorge Cano from the front seat of his red Chevrolet Avalanche, an anonymous tipster led police to Robles' truck when he was arrested and charged with murder. It was McAllen's first homicide of the year.

The acquaintance didn't request a reward, but the man who led police to Robles did.

Police departments across the Rio Grande Valley are reporting an increase in anonymous calls to Crime Stoppers tip lines as people turn in neighbors, relatives and small-time drug dealers.

But at those same departments, which give tipsters rewards of up to $1,000, much of the money is going unclaimed.

"Yes, there are a lot of tipsters that will request a reward," said Lt. Martin Garza, a Mission police spokesman. "But don't be surprised, there are a lot of people who aren't interested."

Officials attribute the increase in calls to stepped-up promotion and residents frustrated with neighborhood crime. People don't take money, because they're just concerned about the crime, police say.

The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office gets about three tips a day on the cell phone its Crime Stoppers program coordinator, J.P. Flores, tries to answer 24 hours a day.

Of the more than 90 tips a month, about 30 lead to an arrest. That's up dramatically from 2001, when Flores took over the program. He even has repeat tipsters.

"This past year ... we recovered over $1 million worth of drugs and property," Flores said. "People are just getting tired of having their neighbors as drug dealers and they want to put a stop to it."

Still, the reward money is added incentive. Last year the sheriff's office paid out close to $13,000 to tipsters.

The reward a tipster receives depends on the crime. Information leading to a murder suspect can yield up to $1,000, while information leading to a petty criminal nets a much smaller reward. Most law enforcement agencies with Crime Stoppers programs have civilian boards that oversee them and decide how much money to award.

The programs collect the money for the rewards through fundraisers and private donations. They also receive a small percentage of probation fees collected by the county in which they're located.

With soaring gas prices and rising groceries bills, anonymous tip lines at police departments across the country are reporting an increase in calls as people seek additional income by exposing petty criminals, drug dealers and even murderers.

"We'd be excited if that was happening and I hope it happens down here," said Roy Cantu, a spokesman for the city of McAllen who sits on the city's Crime Stoppers civilian review board. "Most of the time we're surprised that people never pick up the money."

Elaine Cloyd, the president of Crime Stoppers U.S.A., a national organization of some 323 local tip programs, said tip line popularity has increased more in areas hit hard by the housing crisis and in areas where unemployment and crime are already high. The Valley has been spared the worst of the housing crisis, and the region's unemployment rate, while higher than in much of the rest of the nation, is actually at a record low.

Detective Armando Hernandez of the McAllen Police Department sorts through 20 to 35 anonymous tips a month. Of those, about 10 percent actually contribute to solving a case.

The first murder cases of the year for both 2007 and 2008 were solved with leads from the tip line. A tip led police to Saul Romero days after he ran over Ramiro Ramirez Jr., 20, with his car early Jan. 1, 2007. In 2008, police arrested Robles, who is suspected killing Jorge Cano outside a McAllen bar, and charged him with first-degree murder.

"If it's becoming popular nationwide for people to grab money, that might be happening somewhere else, but not here," Hernandez said. "It's more the regular John Doe citizen that was at the wrong place at the right time and they viewed a crime and they just happen to have that piece of the puzzle to solve it."

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Sean Gaffney covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.