By BEN LUNDIN

Staff Reporter

NEW ORLEANS – The nationally renowned non-profit organization Crimestoppers honored the St. John Sheriff’s Office Chief of Detectives with one of its most prestigious awards for his role as a vital communications link to the organization.

Maj. Robert Hay, a 28-year veteran with the St. John Sheriff’s Office, was one of eight officers selected for the 2006 Top Crimestoppers Officer Award, joining detectives from St. Charles, St. James, Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Tammany and Plaquemines Parishes.

Combined with his communication to Crimestoppers, he was also recognized at the organization’s annual banquet in the Downtown New Orleans Hilton for helping creating the Safe School Hotline in St. John Parish public schools and assisting with Crimestoppers’ gun recovery program in the parish.

Crimestoppers is a non-profit 24-hour telephone hotline that stresses anonymity for anyone who wishes to report information about a crime. The organization has helped law enforcement solve more than 6,000 crimes and has paid over $800,000 in cash rewards to callers in its 22 years of existence.