Pubdate: Sat, 01 Jan 2005
Source: Trinidad Express (Trinidad)
Copyright: 2004 Trinidad Express
Contact:  http://www.trinidadexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1093
Author: Darryl Heeralal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

CRIMESTOPPERS TAKES COMMUNITY AWARD

Express Individual of the Year

The power to stop crime is at your fingertip.

Or so the new chairman of the Crime Stoppers programme, Darren Carmichael, 
would have us believe.

"Empowerment to make a difference. That is the real value of the 
programme," Carmichael said yesterday.

Crime Stoppers is an international non-profit, nongovernmental organisation 
which started in Albuquerque, New Mexico the United States in 1976 
following the murder of a university student.

A police officer, stumped in his investigations, came up with the idea of 
offering a cash reward for information and two men were later held.

It is now a collaboration with the police, media and the public.

Now 18 countries internationally, including South Africa, Jamaica, Bermuda, 
Canada and the US have crime stoppers programmes.

Locally crime stoppers started on May 10, 1999 on the initiative of some 
businessmen and the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

It was based on the Crime Stoppers Toronto, Canada model. Crime Stoppers 
Trinidad and Tobago has won the Express Award of Merit to a Community Group 
or Organisation for 2004.

"This award endorses the role that crime stoppers is trying to play," 
Carmichael said.

"When you give this award you are giving all the businesses that have 
contributed, all the people that have served on the board, the police 
service and most of all the tipsters."

Since its inception Crime Stoppers has received 13, 151 calls resulting in 
6,880 tips, 2,358 investigations cleared and 1,326 offenses cleared.

In all 513 people have been arrested, 56 firearms seized and 1,411 rounds 
of ammunition recovered.

Tips have resulted in the seizure of $195,101,084 of narcotics and the 
recovery of $2,013,443 being recovered. Also 20,000 marijuana trees have 
been destroyed.

Some of the more recent high profile crimes that the programme has helped 
to solve include the Sada Singh kidnapping, the seizure of $13 million 
worth of cocaine in Tobago, 198 kilos of marijuana and theft racket at the 
Port of Spain port.

The concept of the programme is simply.

Anyone with information on a crime can call the hotline at 800-4011 and 
give information anonymously and confidentially.

They are given a security code and asked to call back within 21 days.

That information is passed on to the police coordinator of the programme 
and he then gives the information to the relevant police unit.

The results of the investigations is then passed on to the crime stoppers 
board and then given to the call takers.

When the tipster calls back, if the information is solid that caller is 
informed that they can go to any branch of Scotia Bank, go to the manager 
with the code and collect the reward.

Rewards vary from $1,000 to $10,000.

The media plays its part by advertising and publishing the Crime Stopper 
numbers in news stories.

Crime Stoppers is funded by corporate and private citizens through cash and 
kind and within the last two years the Government has pumped $7 million 
into the programme.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager