BATON ROUGE - Mayor-President Sid Edwards and other city-parish officials on Tuesday announced a pair of new anti-crime initiatives they say will make East Baton Rouge Parish safer.

The first initiative is the implementation of a law passed last year that would allow retired police officers to return to part-time duty while preserving their retirement benefits.

Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse said that the department has been working to re-hire retired officers for a while. Morse added that the retired officers will be able to work up to 29 hours assisting in support services, cold cases and other ancillary duties. They will not answer calls for service.

An Edwards spokesperson said a $3 million fund has been set aside for the retirement program, but did not identify the source of the money.

The second initiative would increase the payouts for Crime Stoppers tips submitted in the first 48 hours after a crime. Crime Stoppers pays tipsters whose information leads to arrests and indictments.

Currently, Crime Stoppers pays out $2,500 for a homicide tip and $5,000 for a multiple homicide tip. Under the new proposal, tipsters would receive double the amount for each type of tip. 

Capital Region Crime Stoppers Executive Director Jonny Dunnam said that the program last year paid nine tipsters whose calls led to the arrest in homicide cases.

"The program works," Dunnam said.

Edwards said he and his team hope that the increased payouts lead to quicker arrests in homicide cases. 

Edwards said both programs will help "keep citizens and children safe."

Edwards added that the new programs are meant to boost and improve former Mayor Sharon Weston Broome's administration's efforts, but neither Edwards or Morse gave specifics.

Edwards says there are "a million ways to attack this crime problem" and that these plans are some of the ways it can be done. He noted that social services and community outreach are also important parts of the plan. He did not elaborate.

The announcement of the new initiatives comes a few days after Edwards announced a plan that would divert money from dedicated property taxes for the parish library system into the general fund, where it could be used for police and other departments. It would also reduce the the amount of money collected via that tax.

If approved by the Metro Council, the proposal's future would be in the hands of voters.

The Police Department budget was also slashed by about $9 million from last year.

"There's a misnomer that it's just about police pay," Edwards said. "That initiative, that thought is about so many other things. But we will have more information on that forthcoming."

Edwards said that he plans to work hard with the library board during the process if the proposal is approved by the Metro Council.