Crime Stoppers plays a crucial role in community safety in Australia by providing anonymous reporting options for people wanting to share information about unsolved crimes and suspicious activities.
The concept of Crime Stoppers is more than 48 years old, having originated in New Mexico as an effort to solve the murder of a young university student. Using media to encourage people to anonymously provide information, with the promise of a cash reward, quickly led to arrests of those responsible.
The global success of Crime Stoppers reaffirms that the concept remains relevant today. The ability to provide information anonymously empowers people who may otherwise be reluctant to come forward and deal directly with police. Additionally, the collaboration between communities and police, coupled with the incentive of a reward, continues to be an effective strategy for solving crimes and enhancing overall community safety.
Some other ways Crime Stoppers helps to promote community safety include:
Community engagement:
Crime Stoppers across Australia actively engages with the community to raise awareness about crime prevention and the importance of sharing information. This helps in creating a sense of shared responsibility for community safety. Often these engagement opportunities involve police and focus on crime-types of concern to the local community, such as rural crime in regional locations or car theft within a metropolitan setting.
Sometimes it includes a pop-up stall at a local shopping centre to help raise awareness about Crime Stoppers and encourage people to actively be part of a safer neighbourhood. You will also see Crime Stoppers participating in community events, fairs and forums.
Partnerships with police:
Crime Stoppers closely collaborates with all police services across Australia, acting as a bridge between the community and police. This unique partnership underpins the sharing of information, which ultimately leads to more effective crime-solving and prevention. In fact, Crime Stoppers’ is the only not-for-profit organisation that spans the entire crime prevention spectrum, as outlined below:
- Information: Every minute someone contacts Crime Stoppers in Australia, highlighting the trust and reliance placed in our services.
- Investigation: The information we receive plays a vital role in informing inquiries and investigations conducted by police and other law enforcement agencies.
- Detection: On average, our information leads to an average of 80 apprehensions by police every week, aiding in the detection and apprehension of criminals.
- Disruption: By actively gathering and providing information to police, Crime Stoppers contributes significantly to disrupting criminal activities.
- Prevention: Our efforts go beyond detection and apprehension; we educate the public about a range of crime prevention initiatives.
- Safety: Through our collaborative approach with law enforcement, media outlets, government, private industry and the community, we aim to create a safer community, alleviating the fear of crime.
Public awareness and education:
- Crime Stoppers delivers a range of crime prevention and education campaigns to raise awareness about specific issues and encourage community involvement in enhancing safety. The types of campaigns conducted by Crime Stoppers can vary based on regional priorities, emerging trends in criminal activities and local community needs, but can include:
- General Awareness campaigns focussed on promoting the overall mission of Crime Stoppers, emphasising the impact of anonymous tips on solving crimes and maintaining public safety.
- Crime type-specific campaigns to address specific crimes such as illicit drug trafficking, gun violence, cybercrime, assaults and theft. These campaigns help people to recognise the red flags and report these particular types of criminal activities.
- Missing persons campaigns to raise awareness about missing persons, providing information on how the public can help locate individuals and contribute to resolving cases.
- Cold case campaigns to encourage people to come forward with information that could result in new leads and the resolution of long-standing murder investigations.
School programs
Crime Stoppers believes that Australian schooling should encourage a sense of community engagement in students by increasing their potential to be informed, responsible, ethical and active participants in society. That’s why we have developed free Civics & Citizenship teacher resources to help Year 7-10 students have a positive attitude towards their role in society.
Created by education experts, teaching materials are high quality and align with the Australian curriculum. Lesson ideas within each theme can be taught in any order to best suit the interest and needs of students. Check out our Education Hub and download teaching packs at https://crimestoppers.com.au/resources/education-hub/
Public service announcements
Crime Stoppers uses various media channels, including television, radio, print and online platforms to share public service announcements. These messages remind people about the anonymous reporting process, encourage community vigilance and discourage criminal behaviour.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and others help Crime Stoppers in Australia to reach a broad audience. These online efforts often include calls to help solve a crime, safety tips and success stories resulting from anonymous tips. For more information about Crime Stoppers go to https://crimestoppers.com.au
