The 2009 legislative session could include a bill that would increase the amount of money Crime Stoppers organizations throughout the state receive from court fines.

Representatives from Crime Stoppers groups throughout Kentucky met Friday at the National Corvette Museum to discuss ideas for the programs.

One proposal was to increase the amount of court fines Crime Stoppers gets from the current $1 to a much higher $5.

Robert Saratonio of the Lexington Police Department said that he would undertake writing a proposal to increase the fee and work to get legislators to sponsor it.

“I think we should wait until after elections in November,” he said.

The bill should also have “Crime Stoppers” in the name to keep other groups from attempting to attach more potential fee increases to it, Saratonio said.

“Once it has a number on it, start calling your representatives and senators to co-sponsor it,” he said. “The more names on it, both Republican and Democrat, the better chance of getting it passed.”

The legislators need to be convinced the fee increase will only impact those who break the law and will help put more people behind bars, Saratonio said.

The group also discussed having judges order convicted criminals to reimburse Crime Stoppers for the tips that led to their arrests. Locally, that’s been done a few times, said Officer Barry Pruitt, spokesman for the Bowling Green Police Department.

Several of the Crime Stopper organizations throughout the state are considering adding a 24-hour answering service, similar to one that exists in Bowling Green. That way, tipsters will leave a message with a person instead of an answering machine, Pruitt said.

A recent example involved a high school student who made threatening comments on Facebook, a social networking site. Officers received the tip quickly and were able to get to the student’s house within hours, Pruitt said; previously, the department wouldn’t receive the message until the next day.

Since Bowling Green-Warren County Crime Stoppers added 24-hour answering, the number of tips received has at least doubled, Pruitt said.

Another new innovation is anonymous text messaging of tips, which Saratonio hopes will encourage more students to leave tips.