It was 33 years ago this month that the Crime Stoppers program first came to New Brunswick.
Since then, the program has helped solve more than 8,400 cases, leading to more than 9,000 arrests and 10,600 charges.
The program’s slogan, “We want your information, not your name,” couldn’t be truer, according to provincial coordinator Claude Tremblay.
He tells us they have no way of identifying tipsters who provide them with information about crimes.
“If the person calls on the phone, we know it’s male or female and that’s it,” says Tremblay. “If they go by web or they go by [texting], we don’t know if they’re male or female or who they are, where they’re from, nothing, we know absolutely nothing.
The civilian-run program allows people to call in tips anonymously in exchange for a cash reward if a suspect is arrested.
Since its launch in 1985, the organization has paid out over $942,000 in reward money, but Tremblay says many tipsters don’t want the reward.
“People don’t really call to have the reward,” he says. “A lot of them are not interested to receive the money, they just want to call, which is surprising.”
Tremblay tells us there’s no such thing is a tip that’s too small, adding that about 80 per cent of the tips they receive come by text message.
“Sometimes all we’re missing is just a missing link,” he says. “We have a lot of evidence and sometimes that tidbit that person may have may solve a crime.”
