This past year was a busy one for Campbell River Crime Stoppers.
Despite not having a full time Coordinator for about six months, the numbers were up across the board.
According to Crime Stoppers President Judy Shepley, “Our new coordinator, Pat Patterson, is doing a wonderful job of getting the word out on our website, Facebook page and Twitter. Next year should be even better.”
Over 317 calls were taken by Crime Stoppers in 2012, resulting in 304 tips. As a direct result of these tips, 25 arrests were made, 32 charges were laid and 68 cases cleared. Over $54,000 in illegal drugs were seized and destroyed and $2,100 in stolen property was recovered. Most of the tips came from concerned citizens who were not interested in getting a cash reward, but several reward payments were made up to the amount of $500.
The organization’s website (www.campbellrivercrimestoppers.com) is still very popular with residents of Campbell River. In particular, this last quarter the numbers of hits to the web pages has increased dramatically. In December alone, the Wanted Suspects page was visited over 6,000 times. The current website offers 15 pages of information.
In October 2012, Facebook was introduced as a social media tool to increase the publicity for Campbell River Crime Stoppers program. Since then there have been over 90 posts onto the site. As a direct result of these posts, there have been 64 tips received. There have been 18 arrests made of people appearing on Facebook on the wanted page, and a further seven people were identified who were not known to police. The numbers of visits
to the Facebook page are increasing month by month and over this last quarter there have been over 28,000 views. The highest number of views for one incident being for the graffiti “tagging issues” at Willow Point.
Twitter was also introduced in October 2012, the response has been good and the numbers are picking up. There have been over 170 “Tweets” posted since this date, with 43 people/businesses following. 1 tip has so far been generated as a direct result of a message from Twitter. These numbers will increase as the site becomes known. Links to the Crime Stoppers Twitter and Facebook pages can be found on the Crime Stoppers website.
Since its inception in 1990, Campbell River Crime Stoppers has received 4,231 Tips which have resulted in 998 cases cleared and 452 arrests. $64,290 has been paid in rewards and a whopping $8,979,373 in drugs and property have been recovered. Funding for the organization comes entirely from private donations, Corporate Memberships and local fundraising efforts like the now semi-annual Jail and Bail. The Board of Directors is working on a new idea to replace the Jail and Bail in the off years.
