Question 1

What is Crime Stoppers?

Accepted Answer

Crime Stoppers is a non-profit organization that takes tips from people who want to report a crime and wish to remain totally anonymous. Crime Stoppers is one way that citizens can assist police by submitting information into their local Crime Stoppers office and never having to identify themselves or testify in court.

Question 2

How does Crime Stoppers work?

Accepted Answer

Crime Stoppers takes information phoned or submitted to our secure P3 Tip Line anonymously and passes it along to the investigators at the appropriate law enforcement agency. (St. Thomas Police Services, Aylmer Police Services, OPP, RCMP, etc). The ‘TIPSTER’ is never identified but is assigned a code number. The tip is investigated. The police will inform Crime Stoppers on how the case is progressing so it is important for the caller to contact us for an update on the case during regular business hours.

Question 3

What happens to my information after I call?

Accepted Answer

After you call, we create a report that brings together all the information you told us. The call handler will check to make sure that the report contains no information that might identify you.

The report is sent to the relevant authority who will deal with the information. This could be the police or it could be an agency such as the MNR, Immigration, etc. They have the legal responsibility to investigate the information prior to acting on it to ensure the information is correct and not given to us maliciously in order to set someone up. The police can not get a search warrant or make an arrest based solely on a tip; there must be other intelligence to support the Crime Stoppers information.

Once the information has been researched, the police will allocate it to the appropriate officer or team to deal with. This could mean more research or it could mean action will be taken.

Question 4

What kind of information can I give to Crime Stoppers?

Accepted Answer

Crime Stoppers will take any information that will help Law Enforcement solve crime as well as help in the seizure of illicit drugs, recover stolen property, or help in the location of missing person.

Question 5

Is Crime Stoppers run by the police?

Accepted Answer

Crime Stoppers is not run by the police. We are separate and apart from any Law Enforcement Agency. Crime Stoppers is a non-profit, charitable program run by volunteers from the community. The individuals who have given their time to sit on local committees or the Board of Directors cannot be employed by any law enforcement agency. All the money raised for Crime Stoppers comes through donations or fund raising. Police agencies provide no financial support to Crime Stoppers, although they do designate a member of their service to act as a coordinator.

Question 6

How do I collect my reward?

Accepted Answer

If the information is good and law enforcement uses the information to help solve a crime, the caller may be eligible for a reward. A reward must be recommended and approved by the Board of Directors of Sudbury Rainbow Crime Stoppers. Once the reward is approved, arrangements are made for the caller to pick up their cash reward in a way that is secure.

Question 7

What type of calls does Crime Stoppers take?

Accepted Answer

Crime Stoppers takes tips about crimes that have already been committed or are about to occur. Crime Stoppers also takes information regarding the whereabouts of wanted persons, stolen property, narcotics, or any other criminal activity.

If it is urgent or an emergency please do not call Crime Stoppers. Please call 911 or your Local Police Department.

Question 8

Nothing happened after I called Crime Stoppers; why?

Accepted Answer

It may take some time before the police act on the information you have given. There could be many reasons for that; the information may be part of a larger investigation and visible action might be delayed for some time or the information may remain on file to be used at a later time. Even if your information appears not to have been used or if you don’t see a quick resolution, don’t think your information was not useful.

Feel free to contact us at any time to add or update information or to just check on the status of your tip. Make sure you give your personal code when you call or use our P3 Web Portal; otherwise Crime Stoppers will not give you any information about your or any other tip.

Question 9

Does Crime Stoppers have call display or call trace on their telephones or have access to my IP address?

Accepted Answer

Crime Stoppers does not have call display or call trace on any of its telephones nor do we record any calls and your IP address in not available to us. That would be in direct contradiction to one of the cornerstones of the Crime Stoppers program – anonymity. Crime Stoppers guarantees that you will remain anonymous whenever you call our Tips Line. If we subscribed to call display or call trace that guarantee of anonymity would be gone and the program would suffer serious consequences.

Question 10

How can you guarantee anonymity?

Accepted Answer

Crime Stoppers can offer anonymity to its callers because of a legal rule of evidence, which says police do not have to reveal information which might identify a person who supplies them with information concerning criminal activity. In February of 1997 the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decided that callers to Crime Stoppers programs were entitled to the protection of this privilege. In a typical case which started from a Crime Stoppers tip, the identity of the informer is unknown to both the Crime Stoppers Coordinator who took the call or on line tip and the case investigator. The Supreme Court went on to confirm that the privilege is so broad in scope it prevents disclosure not only of the name of the informer (even if it were it to be known) but also of any information which might implicitly reveal his or her identity. This is the premise behind the claim that ‘Crime Stoppers guarantees the tipsters anonymity.’

Question 11

How can I become involved with Crime Stoppers?

Accepted Answer

Support us by submitting a tip, making a donation online, and sharing our social media posts. If you are interested on becoming a Board Member, please contact us at info@stthomascrimestoppers.ca

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