• Howick and Pakuranga Times
TOUGH TALKERS: Launching Crimestoppers NZ, from left, founder of Crimestoppers UK Lord Ashcroft, Minister of Police Judith Collins and chairman of Crimestoppers NZ John Perham. Times photo Marianne Kelly.
MARIANNE KELLY reports on the latest initiative to beat crime – a free 24-hour service that protects the identity of informants.
INTIMIDATION and family ties may become less of a barrier for Kiwis reporting suspected foul play to the police with the launch of a network which preserves informants’ anonymity.
Crimestoppers NZ, a charity independent of police and other agencies, was launched at a gathering of top brass at Manukau’s TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre this week.
People can contact the 24-hour service anonymously and toll-free on 0800-555-111 or by filling in an encrypted form online.
There is no requirement to supply a name or any personal details, and information is passed on to the police in such a way that the caller cannot be traced.
Trust chairman John Perham said at the launch it was “unbelievable” that children suffered abuse in New Zealand without other people knowing about it.
“People feel constraint about coming forward and people with past convictions don’t generally ring the police, social welfare, customs or the IRD to volunteer anything,” said Mr Perham.
“There is a strong reluctance to engage any of those agencies with the possibility of being dragged into a trial as well as personal risk and being disenfranchised.
“Blood is thicker than water and this mantra allows children to be killed. Dobbing someone in seems to be unacceptable in New Zealand.”
The best way to disrupt the flow of people being brought to justice was to disrupt the flow of information, Police Minister Judith Collins said.
“Criminals, be warned you can no longer buy silence from intimidated fear,” she said. “There will be fewer places for them to hide.”
Manukau was chosen for the launch because the city council and the local police had a tradition of working outside what was generally expected to find better solutions, Mayor Len Brown told the Times.
“We’ve had an issue over the years of the community having the confidence to provide information and be personally secure,” he said.
“We’ve tried to encourage reporting through call centres but the underlying concern has been that personal safety may be compromised.
“This service is another weapon to gain information which we can use against criminals in our community.
“In particular, I’m focused on nailing the drugs trade.
“People are very wary about passing on that information so this is another way we can give the community confidence that personal safety won’t be compromised.”
CRIMESTOPPERS was a service the police could not provide because it was a way of passing on information anonymously, said founder and chairman of Crimestoppers UK Lord Ashcroft.
The former businessman established the Community Action Trust in Britain in 1988 and it was renamed Crimestoppers in 1995.
“During our 21 years, Crimestoppers UK has received more than one million actionable calls resulting in more than 90,000 arrests and charges,” he said. “Every four days someone is arrested for murder in the UK as the result of information passed to us.”
The charity was established after Lord Ashcroft offered police a monetary reward to encourage people to volunteer information about the murder of PC Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm estate riots in London in 1985.
After 11 sets of medals, including nine Victoria Crosses, were stolen from the New Zealand Army Museum in Waiouru in 2007, Lord Ashcroft, a war memorabilia collector, offered a reward of $200,000 for their return.
WHEN he visited New Zealand in February 2008, he met Police Commissioner Howard Broad and discussed the possibility of establishing Crimestoppers here.
As the result of co-operation with the British trust, Crimestoppers has been launched after seven months of preparation.
“We realised that anonymity for the caller could change the game,” Mr Perham said.
The police, however, would continue to rely on people coming forward with information and being identified, added Mr Broad.
“Crimestoppers does not detract from the public’s duty to help police by giving information directly as informants or witnesses.
“But the new service may help police resolve us to some crimes more quickly.”
Retired chief of the New Zealand Army Major General Lou Gardiner is chief executive of Crimestoppers.
Until a New Zealand call centre can be set up, calls to the Crimestoppers phone number and online crime reports will be handled by
the British Crimestoppers call centre, which will send the anonymous information to New Zealand police for action.
People should continue to call 111 in emergencies and *555 to report traffic matters, while non-urgent crime should be reported to local police stations.
Crimestoppers’ toll-free number to give information anonymously is 0800-555-111, or submit an encrypted form at www.crimestoppers-nz.org
