Crime Stoppers program sees success; tips increase leads to solving cases
Moose Jaw Crime Stoppers (MJCS) held its annual general meeting on Tuesday, February 6 as they outlined the group’s financial report and provided updates on the program’s success in 2017, as well as revealing future plans.
MJ Crime Stoppers says 2017 saw many successes, especially after incorporating social media into crime stopping efforts. Cst. Sheldon MacNaughton, who is with the Criminal Investigation Section of the Moose Jaw Police Service, says through the Crime Stoppers program, the Police Service received the highest number of tips in 2017 compared to 2016 and previous years. He noted that 258 tips came in through the program for 2017, compared to 192 in 2016.
This has been a significant increase and he hopes this will continue, using some of the same strategies moving forward through the program. “For 2017, 258 total tips came into our program compared to 192 in 2016. We saw a significant increase for 2017 and this has been the case for the last two years where we’re continuing to see an increase. We’re very happy with this! There were seven (7) total tips that resulted in a case being solved. We made seven (7) arrests and 10 charges. All of those tips added up to $1,395 in rewards that were approved for pick-up.”
As a result, he says CS is satisfied with the program and is looking forward to doing more work for 2018, incorporating the public’s help via social media and other awareness channels. “Overall, we’re pretty happy with how the program is going. With this program, we use social media and radio spots to help bring awareness to CS and how the public can help in providing tips or leads. I try to incorporate what we say or do on the radio spot that we have with what we have on our Facebook page. When we post on Facebook, they reach up to 50,000 people on Facebook which is impressive for the city of Moose Jaw which is about 35,000 people. We put out surveillance videos or pictures of someone who’s committing a crime and persons on social media view and often share the posts. This results in several crimes being solved.”
He highlighted that with the use of social media, particularly Facebook, the Police Service is able to nab criminals and get the public involved. “We put out 18 images of separate incidents throughout the year [2017] and we received positive IDs on 12. This shows that the program is working and almost all the successful tips we got, resulted in arrests. It’s a good way to expand what we’re doing with the Crime Stoppers program. We’re happy with the success of this and we’re continuing this year to incorporate this kind of exposure into the Crime Stoppers program.” Crime Stoppers originated in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1976 with Detective Greg MacAleese who moved to Canada in 1984 and to Moose Jaw in 1985. Crime Stoppers involves three (3) components: police, media and community. CS provides a vehicle for anonymous reporting of crime and offers cash rewards to tipsters. A toll free number was the original method of reporting. This, however, has been incorporated with social media, including web, Facebook and text tips. Everyone who leaves a tip is guaranteed anonymity.
CS boards are comprised of community and business leaders. The board is a non-profit organization which promotes the CS’ message and offers cash rewards. CS says, “Social media has immensely increased the number of people who hear about and/or respond to CS messages. Thousands of people will view a Facebook post, thereby increasing the odds of identification of suspects and ultimately clearing the case. Also, this technology allows for efficient sharing of information among police agencies.” At the general meeting, CS also celebrated its sponsors who they say continue to support the organization. The Moose Jaw Lions Club ad Moose Jaw Kinsmen presented the CS group with further donations to help the board carry out its function. Find out more about MJ Crime Stoppers at http://mjpolice.ca/crimestoppers.