Cathy Dobson The Crime Stoppers tip line responsible for solving four to five local crimes a month is facing the biggest challenge of its 30-year history.
Cathy Dobson
The Crime Stoppers tip line responsible for solving four to five local crimes a month is facing the biggest challenge of its 30-year history.
“Everyone likes what we do and it’s really important work when you realize the amount of drugs we are helping to get off the street,” says Sarnia-Lambton Crime Stoppers president Sean Robbins.
“But folks think we get funding from the government or the OPP, and we don’t. We have financial challenges that may limit our work.”
Crime Stoppers had an OPP co-ordinator for about 15 years but that ended two years ago.
The OPP no longer provide any financial or manpower support, said Robbins.
Sarnia Police Services is providing free office space and pays a portion of the wages for two part-time administrators. But the balance of the wages and about $24,000 paid out annually in tip money must be fundraised.
On top of that, a mandatory $800 monthly payment is required for monitoring public tips at a designated call centre, said Robbins.
Each tip is handled anonymously without call display or call tracing. Callers are assigned a number they can use to claim award money if their tip leads to an arrest or prevents a crime. The local Crime Stoppers board determines each month how large each award is, depending on the number of charges laid or amount of contraband recovered.
“We are more important than what some people think,” says board member John Baragar.
Typically, as many as 50 tips come in from across Sarnia-Lambton each month and four to five result in an arrest. Tip awards range from $150 to $2,000 and are paid in cash, said Baragar.
All that money must be generated through local fundraisers, which used to include a Jail and Bail event.
“But Jail and Bail ran its course,” said Robbins. “It stopped about eight years ago and then we tried it again last year and didn’t achieve the numbers.”
He hopes to resurrect Jail and Bail with a virtual version this spring.
Aside from the tip line (1-800-222-8477), Sarnia-Lambton Crime Stoppers offers a free service to educate the community about phone scams and fraud, said Baragar.
He voluntarily does power point presentations to draw attention to scams targeting Sarnia-Lambton residents.
The most common scams currently involve someone posing as a Revenue Canada agent demanding immediate payment, and fraudulent callers who prey on lonely people, attempting to romance them into providing cash.
January is National Crime Stoppers Month. More volunteers and donations are needed. If interested, contact the office at 519-344-8861, ext. 5204. To book John Baragar for a free presentation, contact him at [email protected] or call 519-908-9262.
