LOUISVILLE, Ky. — "There's really only one reason to steal a gun," Louisville Metro Police Chief Paul Humphrey said. "To commit crimes."
Humphrey figures crime will go down if the stolen guns are found first. It's why he supports a new partnership offering up to $3,000 dollars to track down those weapons.
The ATF and Kentuckiana Crime Stoppers have offered $1,000 each for info leading to recovery of a stolen gun, with $500 for each extra gun found as a result. Callers with tips can reach the tip line at (502) 582-CLUE.
Reward money is also available if the tip leads to an arrest of someone who committed a crime with a stolen gun.
"We never know the person's name," Dave Yates with Crime Stoppers said. "And we do not have caller ID. And it is, when we say anonymous, that's what it is, and our phones are answered 24 hours a day."
ATF Special Agent in Charge Shawn Morrow added more than 1,000 guns go missing in Louisville each year.
"One of the things that we do is encourage gun owners to record their firearm information and make sure they have it in a safe place. So they have the manufacturer, the caliber, the serial number," he explained.
Without those records, police don't know if a gun is stolen — and they can only take guns they know were stolen.
"We know that there's a large portion that come from cars," Morrow said. "We encourage our community to make sure they lock their vehicles up. Again, that goes with safe storage, don't leave your firearm unattended."
Oftentimes, arrests for stolen guns come with additional charges for drugs, reckless driving or possession of a firearm by a felon.
That overlap happened in April here Taylor Boulevard near Churchill Downs when police arrested a man for murder who also had a stolen firearm. However, they weren't able to say if it was used in the crime because it's still an open court case.
Chief Humphrey says by taking stolen guns, it interrupts a violent cycle of crime.
"Every time that we're able to get a crime gun off the street," he said, "that's another victim that we're protecting."
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