Crimestoppers

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Crimestoppers or Crime Stoppers, a part of Crime Stoppers International, is the telephone hotline, separate from the emergency telephone number system, that allows a member of the community to provide anonymous information about criminal activity. It thereby allows the person to provide crime solving assistance to the authorities without being directly involved in the investigation process. That person could also be eligible for a reward if the reported information results in an arrest and/or prosecution. Crimestopper programs are operated in many communities worldwide. It is supported by the Crimestoppers International Foundation.

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[edit] Rationale

The authorities, especially the police, cannot solve many crimes on their own. Forensic science and investigative skills are vital, along with information from the public. Crimestoppers recognizes that someone other than criminals may have information about crime, and was developed to combat the three major problems of law enforcement agencies:

  • fear of reprisals
  • apathy on the part of the public
  • reluctance to get involved.

Crimestoppers provides:

  • anonymity (callers are given a code number instead of being asked for their name and calls are not traced or recorded).
  • paying of rewards when their information leads to an arrest.

[edit] Legal

In Canada, a Supreme Court of Canada decision R. v . Leipert, [1997] 1 S.C.R. 281 ruled unanimously that police do not have to disclose any information they receive from this internationally recognized crime prevention program.

“ The rule of informer privilege is of such fundamental importance to the workings of a criminal justice system it cannot be balanced against other interest relating to the administration of justice...Once the privilege has been established, neither the police nor the court possesses discretion to abridge it.[1] ”

[edit] History

Crimestoppers first began in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the USA during July 1976 which saw the fatal shooting of a university co-ed working one night at a local filling station. After two weeks the police had no information when out of desperation a Detective MacAleese approaches the local television station requesting a reconstruction of the crime. The re-enactment offered US$ 1,000.00 for information leading to the arrest of the killers. Within 72 hours, a person called in identifying a car leaving the scene at high speed and he had noted its registration. The person calling said that he did not want to get involved so he had not called earlier. Detective MacAleese then realized that fear and apathy were the primary reasons why the public tended not to get involved. So he helped design a system where the public could anonymously provide details of the events. To overcome these he targeted three areas of need:

  1. Stimulating community involvement and participation in Crimestoppers
  2. Taking advantage of every possible media opportunity, especially electronic media, to publicise unsolved crimes, and
  3. Offering cash rewards for information leading to an arrest and/or conviction.

[edit] Ethical issues

Crimestoppers could possibly be abused as it would seem to allow for the anonymous filing of false reports on allegedly innocent individuals. Its secrecy could allow for law enforcement officials to secretly investigate individuals. There are no recorded allegations of Crimestoppers abuse.

[edit] Results

  • 1200 programs in over 17 countries
  • Over one million solved cases
  • Over 500,000 arrests
  • US$1.3 billion in recovered property
  • US$4.3 billion in seized drugs

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Greater Vancouver Crime Stoppers. "Crime Stoppers Anonymity Guaranteed", Greater Vancouver Crime Stoppers, 2007-11-12. 

[edit] External links