Crime Stoppers or Crimestoppers is a community program that helps people to provide

anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anony ...

information about

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

activity. Often managed by non-profit groups or the police, it operates separately from the

emergency telephone number Most public switched telephone networks have a single emergency telephone number (sometimes known as the universal emergency telephone number or the emergency services number) that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assis ...

system or other standard methods of contacting police. Profile
Crime Stoppers USA. This allows a person to provide crime-solving assistance to the authorities without being directly involved in the investigation process. Founded in the United States in 1976 in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

, Crime Stoppers later caught on in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The authorities, especially the

police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

, sometimes rely on information from the community about criminal activities or events. Crime Stoppers was developed to enable the public to participate without fear of reprisal and to make it easier for witnesses to volunteer information anonymously. There have been challenges to this aspect.

History

Crime Stoppers first began in

in July 1976. That month Michael Carmen was fatally shot while he was working at night at a local filling station. After two weeks the police had not been able to gather any information about the killing.

Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

Greg MacAleese approached the local television station to request they film a reconstruction of the crime. When the re-enactment was aired, the police department offered US$1,000.00 for information leading to the arrest of the killers. Within 72 hours, a male called in identifying a car which he had seen leaving the scene at high speed; he had noted its registration. The person calling said that he did not want to get involved; therefore, he had not called earlier. Detective MacAleese realized that fear and apathy often prevented the public from getting involved. He helped design a system by which the public could anonymously provide details of the events. This system focused on stimulating community involvement and participation, and took advantage of electronic media to publicize unsolved crimes. The police offered cash rewards for information leading to an arrest or conviction. Since the first chapter was officially formed in Albuquerque in 1976, Crime Stoppers in the United States has been responsible for more than half a million arrests and more than US$4 billion in recovered property. Crime Stoppers spread to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. While the individual programs are local or regional in nature, mostly run by non-profit groups or directly by police, various national and international umbrella organizations exist. The

toll-free telephone number A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing pre ...

+1-800-222-TIPS is used to reach various different Crime Stoppers groups in Canada and the U.S., although some groups publish their own numbers.Call 713-222-TIPS
Crime Stoppers Houston Area.

References

External links

* * * * {{Official website, http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/, Crimestoppers UK Organizations established in 1976 1976 establishments in New Mexico

History

See also

References

External links