Cynthia Tobias, the group's former board president, told KIRO 7 on Wednesday that the resignations had to do with a "disagreement" over how CrimeStoppers was being run, but the specifics of those disagreements still aren't entirely clear.

"We have a disagreement, we came to an impasse, we stepped down," Tobias said. "I do have a concern with the way CrimeStoppers is being run by the director."

That director is former Seattle police Officer Myrle Carner, the man who founded the King County branch of CrimeStoppers more than 20 years ago.

There are eight different CrimeStoppers organizations in Washington state. CrimeStoppers of Puget Sound works with the King and Snohomish county groups and is not affiliated with the other seven.

Tobias said her concern was "that we have all our T's crossed and our I's dotted and that we're doing things in a completely open and accountable way and that was not happening."

Tobias had served on the CrimeStoppers board for nearly four years prior to her resignation.

After Tobias' resignation, 12 other board members resigned.

Four others did not resign, including Danny Behrend and his wife, Gayle, both of whom are longtime members of the local law enforcement community.

Danny Behrend said he stands fully behind Carner, whom he served on the Seattle police force with more than 40 years ago.

"His integrity is beyond reproach," Behrend said of Carner. "This is a man who has devoted himself to law enforcement. (He) has a sterling, unblemished record."

KIRO 7 Reporter Deborah Horne called and e-mailed Carner to try to get his side of the story, but he hadn't responded as of Wednesday evening.

Seattle police said they've only received one complaint about CrimeStoppers Puget Sound and that it is "in the preliminary stages of review."