East Mississippi Crime Stoppers recently won a national first-place award for its twice-weekly TV segment “Crimenet.”

The award was received at the annual Crime Stoppers USA Training Conference in Honolulu. East Mississippi Crime Stoppers received first place for Television Public Service Announcement in the “quarter-million population or less” category, said Lauderdale County Sheriff Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun.

Out of 329 members, a total of 16 awards for best media efforts were given at this year’s conference. Other winners of the Television Public Service award were Crime Stoppers of Flint & Genesee County (Flint, Michigan) in the 250,000 to 1 million population category, and Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers in the 1 million-plus population category.

Calhoun said Crime Stoppers has received state awards in the past, but a national award is a first.

“It was nice to be recognized by your peers from all over the country,” Calhoun said.

The program runs every Monday and Thursday night on WTOK. The segment has been a regular part of the local new station’s programming for the last 15 years.

“About a third of people we feature on WTOK either turn themselves in or we get tips on where to locate them,” Calhoun said. “[Callers] don’t have to be involved and they don’t have to give their name, and if their tip leads to an arrest they get a cash reward.”

Calhoun said the Crime Stoppers program has been a part of the community for more than 30 years and continues to be a valuable asset to the law enforcement community.

“It’s not just wanted people — we get information about drug activity, people selling merchandise, and we stop murders with Crime Stoppers tips… It’s been going on for a long, long time.”

For more information or to report criminal activity, call 855-485-TIPS.