About Us

N.B. Crime Stoppers

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Helping to stop, solve, and prevent crime

New Brunswick (N.B.) Crime Stoppers is a charitable organization and community service program focused on assisting law enforcement solve crimes in your neighbourhood by providing them information from anonymous tipsters. N.B. Crime Stoppers is managed by a civilian board of directors who establish policy, raise funds to operate the program, and authorize award payments to Tipsters.

Crime Stoppers is an effective worldwide crime-solving organization with the primary objective of combining the resources of the media, law enforcement and the general public to solve crime. A steadfast principle of Crime Stoppers is the ability to collect information or “tips” on crime and criminals from citizens. To get these people involved, and to overcome apathy and indifference, cash awards are offered for anonymous tips. To overcome people’s fear of retaliation or fear of involvement, we promise total anonymity. Media is used to notify the public of a crime and solicit their cooperation in reporting information on the crime. Law enforcement takes the information received from tipsters and investigates; hopefully with a successful conclusion.

The distinctive feature of Crime Stoppers is that it is a community program, administered and overseen by our citizens. Crime Stoppers is not a police or government program. Simply put, Crime Stoppers is an extension of the community responding to crime. Our mission is to develop Crime Stoppers as an effective crime-solving organization throughout New Brunswick, with the primary objective being: helping to stop, solve, and prevent crime -together.

N.B. Crime Stoppers is a member in-good-standing of
Canadian Crime Stoppers Association and Crime Stoppers International

N.B. Crime Stoppers: Behind the Anonymous Tip

The provincial Board (N.B. Crime Stoppers, Inc.) has the services of its own Provincial coordinator. The provincial coordinator is the liaison between New Brunswick’s law enforcement community and Crime Stoppers, as well as the media.

All anonymous tips are received at the Provincial Office. Calls are never recorded or traced – that is Crime Stoppers’ guarantee! Anonymity remains the single, most important reason why people call Crime Stoppers to report a crime or criminal activity. Many callers are not interested in a cash award; however, the funds are available for those who wish to receive one.

Twice a year, the 14 local boards (and their coordinators) meet with the parent board for a provincial meeting. New ideas, operational issues, correspondence, etc. are discussed. At an Annual General Meeting (AGM), members of N.B. Crime Stoppers examine the program’s operations during the past year.

Board membership is a commitment of far more than just time. Members must give of their energy, talents, and creativity. Crime Stoppers is a registered charitable organization: board members are not paid. Their hard work reflects a belief in the philosophy of the program: helping law enforcement solve crimes and a desire to see justice done.

What does Crime Stoppers do for New Brunswick?

Since its inception in 1985 N.B. Crime Stoppers has helped…
(as of March 2023):

  • Recover over $9.5 million in stolen property
  • Remove over $72.8 million worth of drugs off the streets of NB
  • With information that has led to over 9,294 arrests
 


Donations help benefit crime prevention in your community

Since 1985, N.B. Crime Stoppers has paid $240,975 in cash awards to anonymous tipsters.

The New Brunswick community has recovered $38.70 for every dollar it has invested in Crime Stoppers. Crime Stoppers is a good community investment. It is a charitable organization, which relies solely on donations from private citizens, organizations, and local businesses. We depend on you (the public) for the funds necessary to stop and prevent crime. Crime Stoppers helps solve a major crime every 14 minutes somewhere in the world – do your part, get involved. Donate to Crime Stoppers Online.

 

Why Crime Stoppers?

When a criminal case is not solved within a reasonable length of time, the investigative leads diminish. The trail becomes cold, evidence becomes unobtainable, and the crime becomes increasingly more difficult to solve. For this reason, most police department files contain many unsolved cases. When this occurs, a method is needed that will re-awaken public interest and will also call upon citizens for help in providing the needed information.

Quite often, citizens witness all or part of a crime without being aware of what they have seen. Consequently, they unknowingly possess key information that could aid law enforcement in solving the crime. In order for law enforcement to receive this vital information, the citizens must be made aware of the importance of the information they possess. The incident must be recalled to their attention and explained what information is needed by the police to solve the crime.

All too often, citizens do not contact the police with information that could help solve a crime. It may be due to fear, they believe if they reveal their own identity then they would expose themselves or their families to acts of retaliation by the criminal. In most of these instances, these citizens will not come forward with information. In order to share information with law enforcement, they must be assured they will be provided complete anonymity. If the police fail to provide this anonymity, the result is usually the loss of vital information due to the lack of willingness to cooperate.

In other instances, citizens may not come forward with information because they lack the knowledge of how or whom to contact in the law enforcement’s organization. Once these citizens “work up the courage” to contact law enforcement, they must be assured that whoever they talk to will be interested in, and respond to whatever information they relay. Otherwise, these citizens may call in once with information but certainly will not call a second time if they are shuffled and transferred from one person or department to another.

The Crime Stoppers concept provides a method of overcoming these limitations and involving citizens in the solution of crime. Through the Crime Stoppers program, citizens who have knowledge of a specific crime are encouraged either for civic or monetary reasons to come forward to police. Through this program, the public is reminded that the police need their assistance to make the community a safer place to live. Crime Stoppers allows any citizen coming forward with information to remain completely anonymous. In this way, the citizen is assured that their identity will be protected and that any useful information relayed will be utilized. To effectively integrate the knowledge of the public, Crime Stoppers must also receive the support of the various representatives of the media such as television, digital, radio, and print.

Contribute to your community through Crime Stoppers

How can I help Crime Stoppers in New Brunswick?

Donate

Support Crime Stoppers by making a donation. Donate now.

Volunteer

Volunteer your time and join our board of directors. Become a volunteer.

One Officer’s Vision: How the Crime Stoppers concept began.

Crime Stoppers was the idea of a man named Greg MacAleese, a police officer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. After helplessly watching Albuquerque’s rising crime rate and seeing the public’s fear of the criminal element, he felt something had to be done to change people’s attitudes towards getting involved. MacAleese knew that for just about every crime, someone other than the offender knew about it and could help law enforcement solve the case. The challenge was to get the right information from the right person at the right time. MacAleese understood the importance of citizen involvement in reporting a crime. The only question seemed to be, “How do you motivate people to get involved?”

His idea took a two-pronged approach:

  • To overcome apathy (indifference), cash awards must be offered
  • To overcome people’s fear of criminal retaliation, or fear of involvement, it would be necessary to offer anonymity.

Discussions with the Albuquerque Police Department indicated that award money should come from the general public instead of through tax dollars (to this day, Crime Stoppers is a civilian-run organization). It was suggested that a civilian Board of Directors be created to lend integrity to the program. It was also decided that awards would only be paid after information received by Crime Stoppers had produced a tangible result.

Crime Stoppers pays awards based on arrest (not conviction) of the person responsible for a particular crime. This speeds up payment of awards to tipsters and assures that law enforcement agencies are well on their way to achieving a successful conclusion to the crime.

Crime Stoppers proves successful

The first call on September 8, 1976, quickly turned doubters into believers.

Other communities, hearing of Albuquerque’s success, soon adopted the Crime Stoppers concept. They quickly learned that the program could also be effective for them. The first Canadian Crime Stoppers program was established in Calgary, Alberta in 1982.

The Crime Stoppers program is a three-way partnership involving private citizens, the media, and the police community. Getting people to care is what Crime Stoppers is all about.

Since 1976, more than 1,500 Crime Stoppers programs have been established worldwide in 26 countries.

 

Province just got a little safer: Crime Stoppers comes to New Brunswick

In February 1985, a motion was passed at a meeting of the New Brunswick Association of Chiefs of Police that called for the implementation of a Crime Stoppers program in central New Brunswick. With the approval of the provincial Attorney-General, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police set up a mini-task force, comprised of two RCMP officers and one Fredericton Police Force officer.

These people began studying the Crime Stoppers program as a whole and went on to establish chapters in the Woodstock, Fredericton, Oromocto, Minto, and Chipman areas of New Brunswick. Several private citizens throughout the province volunteered to help and they became part of an organization that would later be known as N.B. Crime Stoppers, Inc./ Échec au crime N.-B. Inc.

Four local/regional Boards (chapters) were formed. While staying independent, they would remain under the umbrella of the parent organization, N.B. Crime Stoppers. These four boards were: Western N.B. Crime Stoppers; Capital Region Crime Stoppers; Oromocto Crime Stoppers (later renamed Oromocto-Gagetown); and Grand Lake Area Crime Stoppers. In the past 38 years, the program has grown to encompass all of New Brunswick. As of March 2023, 14 local/regional Chapters make up N.B. Crime Stoppers Inc., with approximately 300 volunteers. Many of these people have been members since the program’s inception in 1985.

Provincial Board of Directors

The Provincial Board of Directors of N.B. Crime Stoppers, Inc. is responsible for the financial matters of the organization; the day-to-day operations of the program; and paying the operating expenses. The Board also provides ongoing training and support to all 14 regional chapters, as well as the distribution of promotional materials to volunteers, schools, and law enforcement agencies. Various committees oversee corporate fundraising, public relations, web and social media operations, legal issues, policies, and promotions.

Twice per year, the 14 local/regional boards (and their law enforcement coordinators) meet with the parent board (and the Provincial Coordinator) for a provincial meeting. New ideas, operational issues, and correspondence are discussed. At an Annual Training Conference, members of N.B. Crime Stoppers examine the program’s operations during the past year, and are trained on how to manage their Regional Chapters more efficiently. The Provincial Executive is elected by the general membership and serve two-year terms.

Provincial President: Yvon Comeau

Provincial Coordinator: Sgt. Julie Goulet

Department of JPS Provincial Coordinator: Sgt. Shawn Farrell

Digital Media Services: Mark J. LeBelle

The mission of Crime Stoppers is, “to create a safer, more secure New Brunswick.”

Crime Stoppers, through its relationships with Law Enforcement, the Public, and the Media, provides an indispensable service. Without Crime Stoppers and the promise of anonymity it provides to those who call in or submit tips, many criminal cases would go unsolved.

To ensure its success, Crime Stoppers depends on donations from individuals and corporations. Thanks to the tremendous support the program has received in New Brunswick, Crime Stoppers has been truly successful.

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Why Do We Need Crime Stoppers?

Crime Stoppers is based on the principle that “someone other than the criminal has information that can solve a crime” and was created to combat the three major problems faced by law enforcement in generating that information:

  • A fear of REPRISAL
  • An attitude of APATHY, and
  • A reluctance to get INVOLVED

Crime Stoppers resolves these concerns by:

  • Offering ANONYMITY to people who provide information about crimes.
  • Paying AWARDS when the information supplied leads to arrest or successful conclusion

 

Three Essential Elements Make Up a Crime Stoppers Program:

The Community: Citizens become more involved and make a strong contribution towards solving crime in their communities.

The Media: Crime Stoppers methods, objectives, successes and contact coordinates are publicized on a regular basis by the media.

Law Enforcement: A special Crime Stoppers phone with a well-publicized number is provided to the community. Callers are assigned a special Code number and NEVER give their names or testify in court. If, after the investigation, the information leads to an arrest or successful conclusion of a case, the caller is entitled to a cash award.

Tipsters can also submit their tips online while continuing to remain anonymous.

The Crime Stoppers program has enjoyed great success boasting an average conviction rate of 95% on cases solved by Crime Stoppers tips. Crime Stoppers programs worldwide have solved over 1.3 million crimes and recovered over 10 billion dollars worth of stolen property and narcotics.

Play Video

Message from N.B. Crime Stoppers, Inc. President:

Since our inception in 1985, N.B. Crime Stoppers, Inc. has assisted law enforcement agencies resulting in more than 11,160 charges and 9,294 arrests. Their efforts have also resulted in the recovery of more than $9.5 million in property, and the seizure of more than $72.8 million worth of drugs.

The continued increase in human trafficking, infiltration of contraband and counterfeit goods, which present health and economic threats, often under the direction of organized crime groups, the growing threat of cyber-crimes, the global demand for endangered and at-risk wildlife are all threats that exist in communities all across Canada.

By working in partnership with law enforcement agencies, the media, and the public, Crime Stoppers can do a lot to help our communities in the fight against crime. With the help of all our dedicated volunteers, coordinators, supporters and partners, we will continue to fight crime in New Brunswick.

As President of N.B. Crime Stoppers, Inc., I wish to thank the many volunteers, organizations, sponsors, businesses, law enforcement agencies, the media and the public that have contributed to the program’s success. As President, it is my distinct honour to express my gratitude to everyone who has made N.B. Crime Stoppers, Inc. what it is today.

If you have any information concerning an unsolved crime and wish to remain anonymous, please contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or via Secure Web Tips at https://crimenb.ca/tips. Crime Stoppers will pay up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest or successful conclusion of a crime. As always, we want your information, not your name!

Thank you for your support,

Yvon Comeau

Yvon Comeau
President
N.B. Crime Stoppers, Inc.

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