Moers wants to ditch WeTip hotline, but Hermann's unpaid bill stalling the process

EVANSVILLE — Cancelling WeTip? It's not that easy for new Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Diana Moers, who finds herself in a stalemate with the California-based anonymous crime-reporting hotline over an unpaid bill.

Moers, who took office Jan. 2, said before her election to succeed Nick Hermann in November that she was inclined to end the prosecutor's office's decade-long engagement with WeTip, through which people can call in crime tips at 1-800-78-CRIME/1-800-782-7463 anonymously.

The problem, Moers said, is that the prosecutor's office pays the national WeTip organization to access its resources when local law enforcement agencies also allow for anonymous tipping that can be investigated.

Under Hermann, the prosecutor's office was paying WeTip $10,000 annually plus about $5,000 per month to Evansville Sports Programming, a local advertising and marketing company, to craft media strategies for advertisements promoting WeTip.

It's not worth all that, said Moers, who made the final decision to cancel WeTip when no local law enforcement leader made an impassioned plea for her to keep it.

"I think it’s a duplicative program, as I suspected," the new prosecutor said Monday. "You can call the sheriff’s line or the EPD line and make an anonymous tip, so I just didn’t think it justified the cost."

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But there's a problem.

Hermann didn't pay WeTip's latest $10,000 invoice, which was sent June 1 — weeks after the former prosecutor lost a May 3 Republican primary election to Moers. The bill is intended to pay for WeTip's services through May of this year, a 12-month period.

The way Moers sees it, she made an executive decision as the elected prosecutor to discontinue the relationship with WeTip and she was transparent about it during the campaign. She's not obligated to pay for the organization's services while she is in office, she says. Moers has offered to pick up the tab on a prorated basis for the June-to-December period Hermann was still in office, but not for any time she is in office.

Moers referenced the prosecutor's office's contract with WeTip, but the county auditor's office said in October there is no contract for the California organization's packages. At least not one that went through a meeting of the Board of Commissioners, which approves county government contracts.

And Hermann? Moers said she doesn't know why Hermann didn't pay WeTip's bill when it came due. WeTip says it got no explanation from the former prosecutor's office either.

Hermann, who was named WeTip's Prosecutor of the Year during its 2018 national conference in California, didn't return text and email messages from the Courier & Press seeking answers.

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As far as WeTip is concerned, it had an agreement with the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office through May 2023. But the California-based organization isn't taking a hard line, saying it prefers the prosecutor's office honor the deal.

WeTip Director Vanessa Torres couldn't recall any other newly elected prosecutor acting to end a predecessor's financial relationship with the organization — and Torres said she's been with WeTip for 17 years.

"Typically, prosecutors try to come in and work off of each other — that's what I've seen," she said.

The Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office under Hermann typically did pay WeTip's bills on time, Torres said.

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Another WeTip employee said the organization hoped to bring Moers in contact with its CEO so they could settle the past-due bill. Torres said WeTip's executive leadership will decide how to handle the matter.

Moers isn't girded for an all-out legal showdown, but she said she's willing to fight. It won't be a financial disaster even in a worst-case scenario, the new prosecutor said.

"The absolute worst case scenario is we have to pay through the end of May 2023," she said. "We're talking $833.33 per month. But I will not be renewing.

"Either way, we will be looking into it if they (WeTip) don't want to agree to let us go and will fight to save the county money where possible."

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Diana Moers wants to cancel WeTip program; unpaid bill delaying progress