Regina Crime Stoppers receive record-breaking number of tips in 2016

More people than ever turned to Regina Crime Stoppers in 2016.

A total of 1,088 tips were received by the tip line, an increase over the 1,028 they received in 2015.

Crime Stoppers president Laurie Norman said she is proud and excited about setting a new record.

She said she believes the program has done a good job of getting its name out there, as well as providing tools such as the website.

“There’s sort of a revival of people being invested in their community and realizing that we all need to helps out,” Norman said.

Deputy Police Chief Dean Rae said he’s seen how effective Crime Stoppers can be.

“Back in the mid-2000’s I was in charge of the property crime unit and we received numerous tips through Crime Stoppers at that time and we acted on those tips,” Rae said. “We were able to see the direct results of that information coming in.”

Rae also said the Regina Police Service has been working hard through community engagement to increase the public’s trust in police.

“That increased trust, I believe, is partially responsible for that increased number of tips,” Rae said.

Rae said while there was no monies worth of drugs seized over the past year, that isn’t alarming.

“A lot of the time in the drug world, the drug information is valid only for a short period of time while the drugs are there,” Rae said. “We may end up finding other things during the search warrant like stolen property, other things like that, so the information is still valid and still useful.”