REWARD OFFERS PILE UP FASTER THAN PAYOUTS.

Byline: Mary F. Pols Daily News Staff Writer

Reward funds are as tantalizing as the lottery, a pot of money just waiting to be snared. But do they work?

The tabloid newspapers, government agencies and just plain residents who offered rewards last week for the killers of Ennis Cosby; Corie Williams, the girl killed on a city bus by gang gunfire; and Toluca Lake shooting victim Peter Maloney certainly hope so.

But a check of city and county records last week revealed less than 10 percent of the reward money offered in the past five years has been paid out.

Rewards aren't flowing out of the bank at the rate they are flooding in. Criminologists and law enforcement experts say that isn't surprising given that the majority of the clues generated by tipsters turn out to be absolutely worthless.

``You get deluged with useless information,'' said Gilbert Geis, a professor emeritus of criminology and law at the University of California, Irvine.

Nonetheless, FBI spokesmen and experts in the field said law enforcement does generally approve of reward offers. Citing the high-profile nature of the Cosby case, the LAPD did not provide information about the merits of reward funds. Geis said his studies show that reward funds can be of assistance in cracking a case, but not typically until every lead has dried up and the agency is completely out of clues. It's a sad statement about society, he said.

``There is something kind of ugly about that, you know,'' Geis said. ``The assumption is that this is such a wildly capitalistic society that the only way you are going to get something is by appealing to greed. It's not very pretty.''

Greed is a great motivator though. Many callers ask about the reward before they impart a shred of information.

``You can almost see their eyes glowing on the other end of the line,'' said John Hoos, Los Angeles' spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Experts disagree on how much it takes to catch a killer, if the amount makes any difference at all.

Sure, if Timothy McVeigh is successfully prosecuted for the Oklahoma City bombing, the unidentified former co-worker that tipped the FBI off to his identity could get the $2 million reward.

And if Ted Kaczynski is convicted, the Unabomber suspect's brother, who turned him in for reasons of conscience rather than the reward money, would still see a $1 million payday.

But based on his research, Geis said the amount did not have to be on that kind of scale to work; $5,000 generated as many valid clues as $50,000. But others said the sweeter the pot, the better the information.

``When the reward is large enough, it stimulates more people to come out of the woodwork,'' said Carnegie-Mellon University criminologist Alfred Blumstein, noting that a recent $500,000 offer from the FBI for help finding the Olympic Park bomber instigated thousands of phone calls.

``Apparently that inspired lots of people to go back and look at the photographs they took,'' Blumstein said.

Consider these inspirations. For Cosby's killer, $325,000. For the person who shot Maloney while he was walking home from the grocery store, nearly $30,000. To convict the gang members who shot high school student Williams, $12,500.

The money in these funds mounted head-spinningly fast. But it probably won't leave the bank with that kind of speed.

Between September 1991 and December 1996, the Los Angeles City Council established 275 separate rewards to catch killers, rapists, arsonists and other unsavory types. Depending on the nature of the crime, tipsters were offered between $10,000 and $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the criminals.

With that kind of money at stake, it would seem like enough to jog plenty of foggy memories, get family members to turn on each other and prod even the most hardened criminal to turn in his cellmate.

But only 8 percent or 22 of those rewards have been paid out, according to council records.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has also offered dozens of rewards over the years, but with very few payouts.

A $37,000 reward put up by the board and private sponsors helped catch Night Stalker Richard Ramirez; 19 people split it in 1989. Three tipsters who were instrumental in the conviction of arsonists from the Los Angeles riots split a reward three ways.

Robin Guerrero, chief of board operations, said there are two more rewards to be paid out, one for the conviction of the people who beat bus driver Donald DeBoe senseless in November 1995 after he struck and killed one of their friends. But that's it.

Payouts are relatively small even with a national organization like We Tip, an anonymous crime-tip hotline. We Tip has been taking calls from eager tipsters for 25 years, but the information it has received has only merited about $500,000 in payouts.

The FBI rarely offers money for rewards, but often works with banks who put up money to catch robbers. Last year, the Bank of America volunteered its biggest reward ever, $100,000, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a group of bandits who robbed six Southland banks.

Although arrests have been made in that series of robberies, Bank of America spokeswoman Shannon Jones said it is unlikely any of that money will be paid out to tipsters because law enforcement worked alone. She declined to say how often the bank paid out rewards, but said it does happen.

``We've paid out thousands of dollars and a significant number of rewards,'' Jones said.

But asking for citizens' help can be problematic, she said.

``We do want tips but we don't want to encourage reckless or risky behavior on the part of citizens who witness a crime,'' Jones said. ``We don't want them to follow the robbers because they think there might be a reward.''

And sometimes the numbers of tips can pose another kind of problem: staffing.

We Tip national director Miriam Brownell said the Cosby case has flooded her organization with calls, forcing her to add six operators to her customary crew of 14.