What is Crime Stoppers?
Crime Stoppers began in Albuquerque, New Mexico in September of 1976. Members of the local community, in partnership with the media and law enforcement, began an effort to provide crime-solving assistance to law enforcement.
A cash reward was offered to anonymous persons who telephone the Crime Stoppers hot line with information, which led to the arrest and indictment of the person(s) responsible for felony offenses.
The Crime Stoppers program has enjoyed great success boasting an average conviction rate of 95% on cases solved by Crime Stoppers' tips. The Crime Stoppers programs worldwide have solved over a half a million crimes and recovered over 3 billion dollars worth of stolen property and narcotics.
Today, there are over 1,100 Crime Stoppers programs in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Bahamas, British West Indies, Micronesia, and other nations. These programs have combined to provide police with valuable information that has helped solve over 900,000 major crimes and recover over $5 billion worth of stolen property and narcotics.
Why Do We Need Crime Stoppers?
Crime Stoppers is based on the principal that "Someone other than the criminal has information that can solve a crime" and was created to combat the three major problems faced by law enforcement in generating that information:
- Fear of REPRISAL
- An attitude of APATHY
- Reluctance to get INVOLVED
Crime Stoppers resolves these problems by:
- Offering ANONYMITY to people who provide information about crimes.
- Paying REWARDS when the information supplied leads to arrest.
Three Essential Elements Make Up a Crime Stopper Program
THE COMMUNITY
Citizens are responsible for forming a Crime Stoppers non-profit corporation, whose directors establish policy, determine amount and method of reward payments, work closely with the police and the media and generally oversee the program. The directors are also responsible for fund raising, and all volunteer service. Tax money is not sought.
THE MEDIA
Crime Stoppers methods, objectives, successes and phone numbers are publicized on a regular basis by the media. An unsolved "Crime of the Week" is given special treatment with details published in newspapers, on radio and in certain cases a re-enactment on television.
THE POLICE
A special Crime Stoppers phone with a well publicized number is provided to the community. Callers are assigned a special Code number and NEVER give their names. If, after the investigation, the information leads to an arrest, the caller is entitled to a reward.
OUR LOCAL PROGRAM
Victoria CRIME STOPPERS commenced operation on September 6, 1984 and it was the first such program in B.C. It follows the outline of the original program in that it is overseen by a civilian board of directors and is funded entirely by donations. The program is a registered non-profit society under the Societies Act and all donations received are tax deductible. Other than the salaries of the police coordinators, no government funding is involved. One of the most appealing aspects of the program is that it is local. Donations received in the Greater Victoria area are used to solve crimes in Greater Victoria. And the program does solve crime. The statistics to the end of 2001 tell the story:
- 9,413 coded tipsters
- 2,097 cases cleared
- 1,958 arrests
- $4,063,637 stolen property recovered
- $15,581,361 drugs seized
In 2001/2002 the program paid out $16,675 in rewards.
