What exactly does Crime Stoppers do to help keep the Halton community safe?
When hosting or participating in community events, Crime Stoppers of Halton often gets grouped into the same faction as the Halton Regional Police Service. But they are not a part of the police organization.
Crime Stoppers of Halton is an independent, non-profit registered charity that helps to keep residents of Halton Region safe by taking tips from anonymous sources. It is governed by a volunteer board of directors with its own vision, mission, goals and fundraising activities.
So, what does that mean for Halton?
The answer can be found in the Crime Stoppers mission statement: “To reduce crime in Halton Region through community education and engagement in partnership with the public, the police and the media and by providing citizens the ability to provide information with guaranteed anonymity to deter and solve crime, with rewards offered for tips that lead to an arrest.”
Some of the community education and engagement activities that Crime Stoppers of Halton has hosted include secure document shredding events, educational seminars that focus on important topics like fraud prevention to help stop identity theft and intimate partner violence (IPV), and social media campaigns to help target tips specifically for illegal opioid drug traffickers to help remove these people and substances from the community.
Although Halton continues to rank as one of the safest communities in Canada, there are still many issues that Crime Stoppers of Halton will focus its efforts on through the remainder of 2023.
Vehicle thefts over the past three to five years have increased immensely from 10 years ago.
“For the last few years, since the pandemic, there has been a shift in crime rates,” said Colin Jessome, executive director of Crime Stoppers of Halton. “Break and enters were on the decline and there was a major uptick in auto thefts.”
The most popular vehicles for criminals to target include newer Toyota Highlanders and RAV4s, Land Rovers, Lexus RX 350s, Dodge Rams, and Ford F150s.
Crime Stoppers is working with the media and the police to get the message out to the public because there is still a very low percentage of the population that knows there is an issue with car thefts. Building community awareness helps to create community prevention.
Another campaign that the Crime Stoppers of Halton will continue to work on is targeting the dangerous and increasingly widespread trafficking and dealing of fentanyl and other opioids in the community.
"Opioids are increasingly common in Halton and have a high potential to be lethal," said Jessome. "We want to hear from you if you know of someone selling or moving these drugs. You will remain anonymous and receive up to $2,000 in the event of an arrest. Together we can remove these drug dealers from Halton."
Crime Stoppers makes a difference. As of March 2023, the tips received by Crime Stoppers have contributed to:
- 1,293 arrests made
- 2,296 cases cleared
- $62,840 rewards paid
- $2,749,872 property recovered
- $18,258,768 drugs seized.
When submitting an anonymous tip, Crime Stoppers will never ask for your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal information. All tips are 100 per cent anonymous.
For more information about the Crime Stoppers of Halton or to submit an anonymous tip, visit www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.
To participate in an upcoming Crime Stoppers of Halton fundraising event, register for their Women's Golf Event at Oakville Executive Golf Course on Aug. 15. For more information or to book your tee time, email Jessome at [email protected].
Pam Bernier is a Crime Stoppers of Halton board member.
