09-05-2025
‘Hundreds and hundreds:' Sheri Jones' impact with Crime Stoppers of Mid-Michigan
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — On Sheri Jones' final day with 6 News, Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich honored her service with law enforcement with a certificate of commendation. To understand why, we're going to have to take a look back over the past three decades.
Crime Stoppers of Mid-Michigan started featuring wanted criminals in 1989. The concept was simple—show a mugshot or picture of a wanted person on the run and incentivize viewers at home with cash if they called in a tip and their information led to an arrest.
The first voice for Crime Stoppers of Mid-Michigan was Bob Trojanowicz, a professor and the former director of Michigan State University's Criminal Justice Department. His son, Eric, says his dad was extremely passionate about this new way of community policing and would be routinely visited by a certain up-and-coming local reporter.
'Sheri used to come to our house and interview him in regards to different topics that were happening in the community and also nationally,' said Eric. 'And my dad had a lot of respect for Sheri as a young reporter at that point in time.'
But, in 1994, after 5 years of successfully catching criminals thanks to Crime Stoppers, Bob unexpectedly passed away, meaning a new face was needed to keep the policing program running. Without hesitation, law enforcement leaders looked to Sheri Jones to save them, and she hasn't let them down since.
'I look at Sheri over the years as being an ambassador to law enforcement. Crime Stoppers, she's done a wonderful job with, and we've put a lot of bad people in jail because of her,' says Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth. 'When somebody is out there and they need to get got, Sheri promotes that, asks us in the community for help, and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds have gone to jail because of Sheri and her work with Crime Stoppers as well.'
As Sheri says before every exclusive Crime Stoppers report, the program works because of you, the viewers, and the stats don't lie.
Roughly 75% of all the people Sheri has featured on WLNS-TV since she started have been caught.
'It's really provided a service to the Mid-Michigan community and to all the law enforcement agencies, as well as other community members, to create that safe environment,' said Deputy Chief of MSU Police and Public Safety Doug Monett.
'Her commitment to the community and keeping the community safe, in partnership with all the law enforcement in the Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton County area is impressive,' said Lt. Adrian Ojerio with the East Lansing Police Department.
What may be even more impressive is how Sheri was able to get Mid-Michiganders to call in a tip many times without even collecting a cash reward. Her supporters attribute that to Sheri's passion for keeping the community safe.
'Whenever you hear her name, the word 'trust' usually follows, and that's because the law enforcement circle in the tri-county area trusts her,' says Clinton Cunty Sheriff Sean Dush.
'That is one of the things that I think made her so successful with Crime Stoppers, because she was genuine, she was caring, she had empathy, said MSU Police and Public Safety Chief Mike Yankowski.
'She cares so much about our victims. She cares so much about the families. She wants to see them have the closure and wants to see them have a sense of justice, and she plays a big role in that,' says Lansing Police Department Chief Robert Backus.
Sheri's role has spanned over three decades, a role that the family of the original voice of Crime Stoppers would have been proud of.
'We're happy as a family to have Sheri take over that role from my father,' said Eric.
But—local law enforcement knows her support may not be fully over just yet.
'I wish her the best,' said Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich. 'She will be missed, but I'm sure she won't be too far away.'
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