In the past year, Crime Stoppers has resulted in 30 arrests and has helped recover over $240,000 in property and drugs. There are more than 1,200 programs in more than 20 countries around the world. It is completely anonymous and yet underrated. It is for reasons like these that January has been internationally designated as Crime Stoppers Month.
During this month, Crime Stoppers is being recognized for the work they do, but they’re also trying to use this month to raise awareness about their processes. While most people have a general idea of how Crime Stoppers work, not everyone is sure about how the process works and how they can collect their rewards secretly.
“One of the strengths of the program is that it’s anonymous within a community and province,” said Sean McEachern, president of Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers. “If someone sees a crime or has knowledge that could lead to an arrest, this is a mechanism to call, text, or submit a tip online. That information is then transferred to the RCMP, who have no idea who the individual is. If it leads to a charge and/or an arrest, that person gets paid an award.”
Some people might be concerned that despite the promised anonymity, police can still retrace the tip back to them. However, both McEachern and Sgt. Rob Cozine, the police coordinator for Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers, say that it’s 100 per cent anonymous and they would be unable to retrace a tip even if they wanted to.
“We don’t have call display and even when you email us, it’s all encrypted so we can’t get your email address, but we can still have two-way communication,” said Cozine. “Email is preferred because that way if we have any questions for the tipster, we can ask them right away.”
According to both McEachern and Cozine, nobody has ever been identified in connection with a tip since Crime Stoppers’ inception in Saskatchewan in 1987. However, McEachern does admit that there is a risk factor depending on how close the individual is to that situation. Even so, Crime Stoppers wouldn’t be the one revealing anything since they would be unable to due to the nature of the anonymous submission tools.
“A number is generated for each specific tip and the tipster is the only person who knows that number, which is how a tipster can get an update on the tip they left,” said Cozine. “If you don’t phone us back to ask for an update, we can’t get in touch to tell you that it was successful.”
If a tip is proven to be successful (i.e., it leads to charges or to an arrest), Cozine said the information is put into a formula that calculates an appropriate amount of reward money. The maximum anyone can receive is $2,000. Once the amount is determine, Cozine said he takes it to their board of directors for approval.
Once it is approved, Crime Stoppers tells the tipster how much they will receive (if the tipster called back or if they are communicating via email) and in return the tipster has to tell them which bank or institution to deliver the money. A date and time is set up and an envelope with money is sent to that bank manager. After that, it’s up to the tipster to go and pick it up, which will be done anonymously since the bank manager won’t be given any information other than what a tipster needs to provide to acquire it. While this may sound somewhat clandestine, it all serves to protect a tipster’s identity.
“The object of Crime Stoppers is to create a safer community,” said McEachern. “We obviously know that crime rates have been dropping, but crime can still occur. We know there are people with information on these different activities, but don’t want to report it because they don’t want to get involved in the court system. So this is the way to do it anonymously and if it leads to an arrest, it can lead to a cash reward.”
When submitting a tip, an individual never has to leave a name, number, or address and will never be subpoenaed to go into court.
Tips can be submitted anonymously by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.saskcrimestoppers.com or by texting “TIP206” and your tip to CRIMES (274637).
