City of Warren will pay $500 for tips on drug dealers

The city Warren has a drug problem according to the mayor and police commissioner- and now they have a plan.

"Are we going to stop the flow of drugs? Probably not, but at least we are making the neighborhood safer," says Police Commissioner Jim Dwyer.

At the heart of this is the heroin epidemic Mayor Jim Fouts says his city has seen a 400 percent increase in overdoses from that drug alone in 2015 and 2016.

Fouts says "it's an illness it's not a crime. The people who run the drug houses and who push the heroin are criminals and they need to be in jail."

So together with the police commissioner, they created a program called P.A.I.D or People Against Illegal Drugs. Here's how it works you tip off Warren police to drug dealers and they pay you $500.

"We've got 134,000 citizens here. We want them to be the eyes and ears of police department." according to Dwyer

Think of it as Crime Stoppers for the war on drugs, they just want the information and will protect your identity.

"Obviously there is a little danger in stepping up so we want to protect their name and make sure no one retaliates against him," Fouts said.

Frankly, they don't care where the information comes from all they care about is getting the drugs off the street.

"Maybe it will be among the people who are involved in the drugs," said Fouts. "I don't care but the bottom line is we have a large fund of drug forfeiture money, its hundreds of thousands of dollars. But what's a better way to spend drug forfeiture money than to make sure there are no more drugs in the neighborhoods."

It's a self-funding project, the money seized during the drug raid pays the informants and the informants are the residents of Warren, said Warren city officials

"No one wants to live next to narcotics (house) that's dealing heroin, cocaine or other drugs." says Dwyer.

The program is up and running. If you want the money and have the info on a dealer call (586) 574- GUTS.