Flin Flon city council hopes to take a bite out of crime with financial aide for Manitoba Crime Stoppers.
Council voted last week to contribute 10 cents per resident – $563 – to the Winnipeg-based volunteer organization.
“Yours and other community contributions (allow) Manitoba Crime Stoppers to continue operating throughout the province to help make communities safer,” wrote Boris Nowosad, chair of the not-for-profit program, in a letter to council.
Flin Flon RCMP have long cited Crime Stoppers as a valuable tool.
Annual donations from municipal governments are the major source of funding for Crime Stoppers, which offers cash rewards for information leading to the apprehension of criminals.
Council’s decision came after they reviewed Nowosad’s letter asking for a standard 10-cent-per-resident donation.
Crime Stoppers is a simple concept that has shown major results. Callers dial a toll-free number and relay any crime-related information they possess.
That data is then passed on to the proper RCMP detachment, which uses it to investigate everything from drug dealing to hallway bullying.
Crime Stoppers does not subscribe to caller ID or other tracing services, and no names are ever required. Instead, callers are given an ID number.
If information leads to the solving of a crime, the source provides the ID number to become eligible for a cash reward. Even the process of collecting the rewards, as high as $2,000, can be done anonymously.
No priority
But money isn’t high on the priority list for most callers, as most never follow up about a possible reward.
In the past 27 years, Manitoba Crime Stoppers has received thousands of tips from across the province, paying cash rewards totalling $206,428.
It has also recovered more than $40 million in drugs and property, Nowosad noted in his letter.
Other highlights from last week’s city council meeting:
• Mayor George Fontaine read aloud a letter praising the Flin Flon Public Library.
“I always used libraries elsewhere but the staff at the Flin Flon library are the most wonderful and helpful group anywhere,” the letter read in part.
• Council referred to the committee level a request for support from the Flin Flon Aboriginal Friendship Centre’s Christmas Gift Program.
“This program is solely reliant on the community for cash and / or gift donations,” wrote Virginia Gardiner, the centre’s liaison services worker, in a letter to council. “As we are a charitable organization, a receipt can be issued for cash contributions.”
