$2,000 reward for tips that nail opioid pushers

Crime Stoppers and the city police are turning up the heat in the fight against fentanyl, announcing a new $2,000 cash reward for tips leading to arrests for the production and/or distribution of the opioid.

“Similar Crime Stoppers rewards incentives have been offered in other communities and have been very successful,” Richard McMullen, president of the National Capital Area Crime Stoppers said on Thursday.

“We need to do everything we can to prevent more overdose cases here in our community,” said Ottawa Police Deputy Chief Steve Bell.

The $2,000 reward program ends May 31.

Meanwhile, the Ottawa Police Service reminds people not to take any pills that weren’t prescribed to them by a doctor.

Anyone with information regarding counterfeit pills can call Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800222-8477 (TIPS), texting CRIMES (274637), keyword “tip252.”

You can also download the Ottawa Police Service app for iOS or Android.

Durham Regional Crime Stoppers launched a similar tips program last month, offering a $1,000 cash reward to anyone whose tip directly result in the seizure of illegal fentanyl or its derivatives, or to the arrest of fentanyl traffickers.

In Ottawa, the highprofile overdose deaths of Chloe Kotval and Teslin Russell have been publicized in recent weeks.

McMullen said the local initiative isn’t in direct response to the recent opioidlinked overdoses in the Ottawa area, but rather, to the larger issue of fentanyl and counterfeit opioids.

McMullen said National Capital Crime Stoppers has already found measurable success in taking drugs off the streets, saying “millions of dollars in street value” drugs have been seized from local Crime Stoppers tips.

Anonymous tips to the local Crime Stoppers led police to seize more than $280,000 in narcotics over the last year alone in Ottawa.

McMullen said the majority of tipsters don’t even claim their reward.

“For us, frankly, it’s not the tip that’s the big enticement, it’s (media attention) and awareness and raising the profile,” he said. “(Fentanyl) is a terrible drug and it’s made a significant impact on our local community, and it’s something we hope we can help curtail.”