Crime Stoppers

Paul Fitzpatrick

‘In 1987, the first Australian Crime Stoppers program was started by Victoria Police.’

25 years of Queensland Support

Crime Stoppers and how it began

In 1976, Albuquerque, New Mexico in the United States of America, a service station was held up by two men armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

After emptying the cash register, the offenders shot the 19-year-old attendant at point blank range. The detective assigned to the case, sat with the young man during his final hours, hoping to gain some valuable information which could help solve the crime. Unfortunately, this was not the case and after three months, police were no closer to identifying the murderers.

Two hours after the telecast, a call was received by police.

The caller stated that at the time of the murder, he had heard a car backfire. However, after seeing the re-enactment on television, he thought it could have been a gun shot and recalled seeing a car racing off down the street. He did not know who owned the vehicle or who was driving, but remembers that it looked distinctive and belonged to someone in the neighbourhood.

After a five-hour door knock involving every member of the homicide squad, the vehicle was located and consequently, the owner. Further investigation resulted in the arrest of both offenders and their subsequent conviction for murder.

Crime Stoppers was born.

Detective Greg MacAleese had identified that fear and apathy were the two important reasons why the public had been reluctant to come forward and in his opinion, to overcome these problems, a new approach was needed.

To counteract fear, he decided that a system was required which would enable citizens to communicate information on criminal activities with anonymity, allowing them to feel safe from any retaliation.

A system evolved whereby anyone calling in with information was issued with a unique identification number and at no time would they be requested or expected to reveal their own identity. When making repeat calls, they would simply state their code number to identify themselves.

Since the commencement of this first Crime Stoppers program, the concept has been taken up enthusiastically in many other parts of the world, and on an international basis, can lay claim to some impressive results.

In 1987, the first Australian Crime Stoppers program was started by Victoria Police, with New South Wales Police following suit with their own Crime Stoppers Unit in early 1989.

Later that year, Queensland Police worked with the community to introduce the concept and was the first state to establish volunteer area committees. The remaining Australian States subsequently followed suit.

Crime Stoppers Queensland is a registered charity and community organisation whose vision is to have: “A safe empowered and engaged community”. Whilst the purpose of Crime Stoppers Queensland is: “To engage the community, to encourage the provision of information that supports the Queensland Police Service in solving and preventing crime”.

If readers are interested in becoming a volunteer with Crime Stoppers within Australia: call 1800 333 000 or click crimestoppers.com.au