Prince George's County (Washingtno DC metro area) Police Department and Radio One Team Up in 'Stop The Violence' Radio-Thon

story by MyFoxDC
written by Wisdom Martin

LANHAM, Md. - Usually when the phones light up at the radio stations, it's for song requests or contests giveaways given by the DJs. But those weren't the only calls coming in Tuesday.

Prince George's County Police set up camp at five Radio One stations. They were taking calls from listeners who may have important information about crime.

"Most of the listeners are calling in with criminal activity in their neighborhoods. We are taking their information, we are dispatching that information to the districts in which those activities are occurring and we’re going to have officers as well as detectives take those tips," said Lt. Tammy Sparkman of Prince George’s County Police.

The idea of a massive police presence on the air came up after 2011 got off to a violent start with 14 murders in the first few days of January.

Afternoon drive personality EZ Street says music is a way to connect the people with the police.

"Sometimes they feel like, ‘Can I trust if I give the information? Will it be a problem? Is somebody going to come retaliate?’ They came in and squashed all that today," said EZ Street.

Investigators also went on the air on all the shows soliciting help from the public on some other high profile cases.

One example was the case of missing 13-year-old Diamond Scott from the Accokeek area.

And another case in the Livingston Terrace Subdivision called Glass Manor where there have been several robberies.

"We are looking for an individual named Little Dee. He is one of our prime folks going around robbing people when they are getting off the buses. So we are very serious about that," said

Police say they got a number of important tips Tuesday.

This is just the beginning of using music to bring the public and the police together to fight crime.