‘I've worked with Crime Stoppers for over a decade. Here's what my life looks like.’

A child found living in a house where cannabis plants were being cultivated. 

A man arrested and 10kg of methamphetamine (commonly known as ice) seized. 

A police officer saved from a brutal beating by a drug-affected person.

These are just a few of the thousands of crimes solved courtesy of tip-offs to Crime Stoppers. 

The organisation is part of the global Crime Stoppers network, which was founded in the USA in 1976 and now has offshoots around the world, including across Australia.

It operates with a simple goal: to help stop, solve and prevent crime. 

To do this, it appeals to members of the public to provide information in confidence about crimes or suspicious activity happening in their community. That information is then passed on to police for investigation.

Speaking to Mamamia, Crime Stoppers board member, Jenny*, said that a team of up to 150 call-takers at Crime Stoppers NSW work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, fielding tips from the public. Those tips run the gamut from drug crime, to missing persons, and online scams.

“Across Australia, Crime Stoppers takes a call about every 60 seconds,” Jenny said. “There are 1600 reports a day from people in NSW alone, or close to 10,000 a month.”

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Jenny has been working with Crime Stoppers for over a decade. She volunteers as a member of the organisation’s Board of Directors, where she lends her skills and knowledge from her career as an executive at major corporations.

“I’m a civic-minded person, and that's my primary reason for getting involved in Crime Stoppers: to try to give something back and to want to help wherever I could with the challenge of preventing crime,” she said.

The board’s primary function is to set the direction of the organisation and then support the Chief Executive to implement the various activities that Crime Stoppers undertakes. 

“Our role is educating the community and seeking their support to call us or go online to report things that they believe could potentially be crimes or that they know to be crimes,” she said.

She said a single report can – and often does – prove to be the missing piece of the puzzle that law enforcement is looking for.

In the last 12 months alone, authorities have arrested around 4000 people courtesy of information provided to Crime Stoppers – that’s equivalent to one arrest every 11 hours. 

It’s what motivates Jenny to dedicate her time to the organisation.

“That's 4000 fewer people on the streets that are actually committing crimes or causing hardship for anyone in the community,” she said. “I get satisfaction from being able to see that there are tangible results coming through from people just making a simple phone call or going online, about something strange that they've seen. 

“In some cases, those people may think it's insignificant, but in a situation where we're collecting a lot of information, it could be extremely significant.”

Jenny uses the example of drug crime, which accounts for roughly 60 per cent of reports made to Crime Stoppers. She said a tip could be as simple as someone noticing that a house in their neighbourhood has blacked-out windows and a strange smell coming from within.

“It could be nothing – maybe they just have their blinds down. But it could be something,” she said. “It could well be a meth lab inside, or a drug dealer.”

After all, drug crime has an overwhelming stranglehold on communities across the country. In 2022, Australians spent an estimated $10.3 billion on the four major illicit substances alone: methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA and heroin. And roughly one in 10 people have been affected by illicit drug-related incidents.

“Crime, predominantly, is economically motivated; it's all about money,” Jenny said. “So if you look at the areas of crime that are most popular, it's drugs, because of the demand. The risks are potentially life in prison."

Tackling the problem is far from simple. But Crime Stoppers believes members of the public can play a vital role in helping authorities keep them safe from drug crime and reduce the myriad related harms.

“It makes a huge difference when people say what they've seen,” Jenny said. “It could result in taking criminals off the street. So it's definitely worth just taking a few minutes to report things that you see that don't feel or look right.”

She stresses that all reports to Crime Stoppers can be made in confidence. 

“You will not be called to provide a witness statement. You won't be investigated by the police,” she said. “We don't have caller ID on our phone, and we can't see where you're calling from. We don't actually even know what postcode you're calling from.

“Our mandate has always been about protecting informants. Without that, we wouldn't still be in business.”

The process, Jenny said, is quick and simple: “If you do have any information, take a few minutes to contact us. That can be by phone – 1800 333 000 – or through our website.”

You never know, it could be that missing piece of the puzzle.

The source of this article is known to Mamamia, but her identity has been omitted for security reasons.

If there is anything you have seen or heard in your neighbourhood that could relate to the import, manufacture or supply of illicit drugs, report that information to Crime Stoppers. Call Crime Stoppers NSW on 1800 333 000 or report online at nsw.crimestoppers.com.au.

Feature Image: Getty.