Crime Stoppers Victoria (CSV) commenced in 1987 and is one of over 1 000 Crime Stoppers Programs around the world. These programs provide a mechanism for people to pass information anonymously by telephone to the police. The evaluation included a random telephone survey of 1 008 Victorians in September 2002 and included the following measures: the level of community awareness of the program; media support for the program; participation in the program by the community; relative value of calls to the program; perception of the program by police; and the economic value of the program. Ninety-four per cent of participants in the survey knew of the CSV program and 93 per cent said they would call CSV if they had information that could help solve a crime. During the evaluation period, 18 782 calls were made to CSV, in which 5 293 were actionable (i.e. information reports were prepared and passed onto investigators). Arrest rates as a result of CSV information varied by region from 11 per cent to 24 per cent.
Calls to Crime Stoppers Victoria, October 2001 to September 2002 [see attached PDF for chart]
Source
- Challinger D 2003. Crime Stoppers: evaluating Victoria's program. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 272 Australian Institute of Criminology Canberra