Our friend, and media icon Dave Ward is also dedicated to crime prevention, and his efforts have made this city we all love safer.
On Thursday night, he was recognized with an incredible honor from Crime-Stoppers of Houston. And it was a huge surprise, even to him! Ground will break next week on the new Dave Ward Crime Stoppers Building. It's expected to take about a year to complete.
"We try not to keep secrets, but I think in this case, Dave will understand," said co-anchor Gina Gaston.
When the cat was out of the bag, Dave was nearly speechless.
"My name's going to be on a building on Main Street in the city I love?" he said. "This is overwhelming."
Dave teamed up with Crime-Stoppers to help law enforcement make arrests and solve crimes 35 years ago.
Crime-Stoppers started with an idea to offer reward money for tips leading to charges or arrests. The group asked Dave and ABC13 to create and air re-enactments of one crime each week.
Since its creation, Crime-Stoppers Houston has solved more than 32,000 felony crimes and paid out more than $10M in reward money.
Congratulations, Dave. Well deserved!
@DaveWardABC13 and lovely Laura. @CrimeStopHOU naming new HQ after Dave! 1st time he was speechless. @abc13houston pic.twitter.com/l6dPvDW3J6
— Cynthia Cisneros (@CisnerosABC13) October 30, 2015
Congrats 2 @DaveWard13 by @Space_Station's @StationCDRKelly friends in very high places! @abc13houston @CrimeStopHOU pic.twitter.com/DBXBZPn3xH
— Melanie Lawson (@MelanieLawson13) October 30, 2015