Three decades of police dispatching has led Barb Liska to become someone always looking out for public safety.
Whether she received weird calls or stressful ones, Liska was on the case.
Following these decades of experience, Liska still dedicates a portion of her life to protecting her community in a way she’s been doing even during her run as the 911 director for Seward County – Crime Stoppers.
Liska said Crime Stoppers is a volunteer organization that works hand-in-hand with law enforcement throughout the county. Whenever a case comes to a dead end, Crime Stoppers jumps in and takes any calls that are reported to them.
These phone calls are all anonymous; instead of assigning a call with a name, the caller is assigned a number, according to Liska.
“The board is made up of representatives of different communities within Seward County who speak on behalf of their constituents,” Liska said.
Even though Crime Stoppers can have a major impact in the communities they work for, the volunteer organization has seen a decrease in the number of people within their organization, especially after 2020 and COVID-19, Liska said.
Fortunately, Liska said there haven’t been any major concerns for the group since its decrease in size. However, three members recently left the group, leaving Crime Stoppers with only nine members, some being off-and-on members.
Liska said this makes it difficult for the members to all get together and have a meeting. In order to have meetings, Liska said they need to have two-thirds of the group in attendance. If they don’t, the group doesn’t meet.
Even with this decline in membership, Liska said the group aims to make Crime Stoppers more prominent within the community.
By adding new signs around town with the numbers to call when reporting a crime to Crime Stoppers, the organization is able to spread their message and become more known throughout the community.
“They (the signs) give Crime Stoppers’ number on there, and all the city helpers put them up, and all the villages are going to be putting them up, too,” Liska said. “(They will be posting them) to the entryways of streets and stuff to come into their towns.”
For information on volunteering for Crime Stoppers, reach out to Liska at (402) 643-3395 or call (402) 643-4578 to reach out to Seward County E-911.
To make an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers, call (402) 643-3334.
