VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 2 • FALL 2012
IN THIS ISSUE 1
International Conference Report
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British Columbia Conference Report
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Restructuring of Crime Stoppers International
BC Crime Stoppers: Making its Mark on the World Stage Crime Stoppers International held its annual international training conference in Las Vegas, Nevada October 1–4, 2012. A large contingent of BC Crime Stoppers programs participated and made their presence felt. BC Crime Stoppers held its Annual General Meeting at the Conference. In this issue of the newsletter, there are several articles written by BC attendees who each provide their personal perspective on the conference along with an article about the CSI award presented to Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers and an article from the President of Canada Crime Stoppers. 
British Columbia Crime Stoppers, Canada Crime Stoppers, and Crime Stoppers International legal counsel Bob Gill addresses the conference.
International Conference Report By Bob Ogden South Okanagan Crime Stoppers The Monte Carlo was an excellent venue, with meals for delegates adjacent to the meeting rooms where the plenary sessions as well as the regional and small sessions took place. Breakfasts were excellent and lunches were good. The fare was standard for this size of group. The gala was excellent and everyone in the group mixed well. In my case I forged friendships with people from South Africa and Albuquerque, New Mexico and Kansas City, Missouri.
Presenters
The presenters from Barbados, Great Britain, Canada (Toronto Police Service), United States and Bermuda
were very much experts in their fields.
Purpose and main message to the delegates
The underlying themes were the enforcement programs we as boards supported, such as human trafficking and gun trafficking or whatever each board felt was a priority, for instance social media has become crucial in delivering our programs. Webb County Texas, with support from the Sheriff and local Chiefs of Police, were able to reduce crime by 22% over two years through their embrace of social media and promoting the use of social media to report matters. The amount of drugs seized was astounding and according to John Salazar they attributed their success to the ever widening use of social media in reporting tips.
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He also reported that other crimes, or at least police incidents, were being handled better due to reporting by citizens using Twitter and Facebook. Hit and run collisions and even purse snatching were crimes where historically there was a low clearance rate, this has improved to where chronic offenders are now off the streets equalling a reduction in crime.
the point of helplessness. The gloabalization of the world has produced a wide gap between the rich and poor. People in developing countries sell the one resource they have in abundance, young people, and in particular young girls. This trafficking is aided by corruption and no legislative protection or commitment to protect human rights.
Human trafficking
Gun trafficking
The human trafficking presentation was as shocking as it was educational. It has overtaken the trafficking of guns in value to the cartels. Over 7 billion dollars has been estimated to have gone to criminal enterprises engaged in this activity. One seemingly insurmountable problem is that in some cultures family members sell their own children. The statistics state that 45% of victims are children from the ages of five to eight; in other stats it goes up to 90%. Further statistics showed 80% of the victims of human trafficking are women and girls. Under international agreements and resolutions the following constitute the trafficking of humans: debt bondage, bonded labour, servitude, sex trafficking, child beggars, child brides, child soldiers, organ removal, illegal adoption, child pornography, and intimate partner trafficking. Between 14,000 and 17,000 people were trafficked into the United States or through to other countries. Each year 2,000,000 people are reported missing. The United Nations believes that number accounts for possibly up to half of those who are actually gone. In North America a child is reported missing every 30 to 40 seconds. The shocking statistic for North America is that an estimated 500,000 people go missing but are not reported.
In the presentation by senior officers of the Bermuda and Barbados police and John Salazar on gun trafficking it was interesting to learn that when someone there calls or emails Crime Stoppers it is handled in Canada. They fear that with their small populations an operator might recognize the voice of the caller. Despite very stiff penalties for possession of unlicensed guns, both Bermuda and Barbados have seen a rise in gun crime. They both reported the number one source of weapons is the United States. They seize weapons from yachts and other vessels constantly but some still get in. In America guns are used as currency to pay Mexican cartels for drugs. Lieutenant Salazar reported the trafficking of arms is from the United States and not into the United States and cannot be separated from the other things the cartels are into. Guns are items they need in their war with each other and the Mexican Army. Besides guns and drugs the cartels are also engaged in counterfeiting of CDs, clothing labels and software. The cartels have begun major crime initiatives attacking computer systems for profit. Salazar says the crimes are so interconnected that if you pick up a CD counterfeiter chances are he is also trafficking drugs north and guns south.
The main reason, by gender status, is that in some societies women and children are vulnerable to
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Social media
The presentation on social media was a dramatic play by the panel about the kidnapping of a child and the interaction between the investigators, the police, social media coordinators, an online news agency and the traditional media. The presentation revealed the following positives in my opinion. 1) Social media is immediate. 2) Social media increases eyes involved in rectifying the crime by thousands depending upon the nature of the crime. 3) Social media lasts longer depending on the nature of the crime. 4) It is instantly available for referral by the public at any time and such things as pictures of people, vehicles, etc. get out faster thus providing opportunity for more of item 5 to occur. 5) Twitter and Facebook provide clues to investigators just by the nature of the tweets or comments made. All of this makes the crime more likely to be solved and widens the witness profile. 6) It makes things like the Amber alert system, child watch or neighborhood watch more effective. The following could be negatives: 1) Users may fail to keep a tip tab secure and therefore compromise themselves with associates in that they could be fingered as an informant and face bodily harm or worse. 2) Two quick of release via Twitter etc. without due editing could hurt a case.
3) Not enough police or crime stopper coordinators are conversant with the concept of investigations that now include social media input, comment or sometimes evidence at a scale where there might be information overload. The manner of analyzing the amount of information and making sense of it to where you assign investigators to follow up a tip could be bogged down just by numbers. 4) Even social media and its speed will slow to a grinding halt if the police agency or Crime Stoppers coordinators get swamped with tips on a matter. The nature of Crime Stoppers is to look at every tip that comes in and with research into files decide whether to pass it or not pass it on to investigators. A crucial item is policy on the operational aspects of how social media will be employed. The bottom line for Crime Stoppers is anonymity of the tipster. Everything else, as far as our programs are concerned, is based on that promise. The name of the tipster will never be asked for and nothing will be passed that might identify the caller or Facebook or Twitter tipster. The next item is that a program cannot turn its back on traditional media in favor of social media all the time. Social media is an electronic image or message that can be obscured with enough input. Traditional media is the hard copy. It is the newspaper or television report that is supported by recording. The traditional media still has a role to play to support fundraising initiatives and specific community programs. Whenever we use our connections to such outlets as Cast a Net we have to ensure our traditional media gets the same information. We cannot control what they print or televise, but at least we can take the high road and inform them if asked.
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There was a feeling, at least on my part, of promoting the international part of Crime Stoppers. From the point of view of sharing ideas and having similar standards and policies I feel that is warranted. I am relatively new to Crime Stoppers, but I feel we cannot put international programs over what brought us here in the first place. That is Crime Stoppers is a community based program set up by civic minded law and order supporting community members to deal with crime reduction through apprehension of criminals in our city or region where we live. I feel that protecting and promoting our programs in our individual regions is in turn promoting issues the police or the community feel need to be addressed. One item that came up with Scott Mills, the Media coordinator for Toronto Police Service, was linkage and in that there are possibilities here for us to link issues that we see in the South Okanagan, and Similkameen. The bullying initiative begun by the teacher in Summerland and DARE are things in place and would mean minimal labor for maximum benefit.
Personal reflection-opinion
The closing of the conference was an eye opener. The one thing that always comes up is we are so engrossed in what we do at the local level that we start to wonder if what we do is correct. I found out that in social media, website, Facebook, Twitter sphere South Okanagan Similkameen is ahead of the curve, thanks to Board members Nick Yeoman and Joe Andreucci. Our coordinator Al Sismey is much respected by the BC programs and has set the bar pretty high as to his working as liaison with the police. I also feel if we are going to effectively support Nick and Joe and their work with Al we all have to get more conversant with the concept of social media. I know for myself I have a cell phone I speak into and listen to. It is probably capable of a lot of things but that is all I do with mine. The people who looked at our website in Las Vegas found it easy to follow and look at and I suspect they took some of our ideas back to Albuquerque and Kansas City or Saskatoon with them. ď‚Ś
Canadian Regional Conference
The Canadian regional conference had some fireworks over sponsorship and not vetting sponsors well enough. Apparently a pharmaceutical company that produced oxycontin donated a large amount of money to Crime Stoppers only to be charged criminally in the United States for falsely claiming value in the pharmaceutical that did not exist.
BC Crime Stoppers AGM
This was conducted to make up for the loss of opportunity in Calgary. Nothing contentious came up. We are in the black and our advisory board seems to be equipped to move on in our development.
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Conference Recap: CSI 2012 Las Vegas Ron Fairweather Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers Municipal Police Coordinator The 33rd Annual CSI Training Conference held at the Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas from October 1st–4th was a very well attended and well organized event. Special thanks to the 2012 Conference Chair, Elaine Cloyd and all of the organizing committee members for their time, effort and hard work in hosting an enjoyable and successful conference. Below are some points I noted from the various sessions and presentations:
Crime Stoppers: Surviving in a future of change
In this session, the panel members first talked about the need for dynamic Crime Stopper Boards. Elected Board members need to be enthusiastic, have a sincere interest in the program and be motivated and accepting of a defined role or area of responsibility. Board diversity is imperative. Rotation is critical. “Give, get or get out” was strongly emphasized. In relation to effective Crime Stopper programs, it was an interesting point the panel made, that [we] don’t solve crime, prevent crime or make the community safe, but rather, our prime responsibility is to “get information” and to pass it on to the proper law enforcement agencies (in order for these results to occur). The session also touched on unique fundraising and marketing initiatives; how to engage - and stay engaged, in a “tip rich” environment.
“The community is the key to Crime Stoppers—next to anonymity. It is the community that drives the program of Crime Stoppers”. “Talk with people that are already listening”.
Human trafficking: Impacts on communities
The session presented on Wednesday, October 3rd by Mark Elam, the founder of Oklahomans Against Human Trafficking (OATH), provided a shocking “eye-opener” as to just how pervasive the issue of human trafficking is world-wide. Mark stated that due to the covert nature of the crime—the victims are closely guarded and controlled—it is estimated that there are 27 million victims globally, with India being the worst problem country. Simply defined, Human Trafficking is modern day slavery; loss of freedom to the control of others, by force, by fraud, or by coercion. It is the fastest growing criminal enterprise and will surpass drug trafficking as the #1 globally. Traffickers prey on the dreams of others for a “better life”. Mark gave insight with a segment called Ohn’s Story, profiling very disturbing details of having been
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in slavery from the age of five until 34 years old. Ohn is a survivor and now works to save and mentor other victims. She is widely known for her incredible efforts. These are a few of the many pointed facts Mark provided to the very attentive audience: Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is not smuggling. It does not necessitate travel. It is not just an immigration issue.
with law enforcement and other professionals to develop and hone their nonverbal communication skills. His interactive session included the examination and discussion of a multitude of still photographs of facial expressions, body and hand gestures of high level politicians, world leaders and celebrities and figuring out what emotion they were attempting (or thinking they were attempting) to portray and what they were actually feeling, thinking and portraying.
As in any conference gatherThe U.S.A. is a source destiThe average prostitute age ing, the networking ses sions nation. 14,500-17,000 victims with delegates from around the worldwide is 14, with the are brought into the U.S. world always prove to be the each year with up to 100,000 average entry age being most long-lasting and beneficial exploited victims within U.S. aspect. This conference allowed only 12–13 years old. borders. Houston is the #1 City for the renewal of relationships for sex trafficking and Las Vegas is #2. established from past years’ conferences and the opportunity to forge new ones. I am very appreciaTruckers Against Traffickers—A national program tive to the MVCS Board for being able to participate where truckers throughout the U.S. can call in to once again. report seeing young and vulnerable girls at truck stops. Traffickers will often prostitute their victims. The vulnerable are the target. The runaway/throw away category is the biggest draw. Those from low income families, poverty, low education; the troubled teens, insecure, and unhappy are the most often pursued. The average prostitute age worldwide is 14, with the average entry age being only 12–13 years old. Of those, 80-94% report being victims of childhood sexual abuse. There were several other excellent presentations and plenary sessions throughout the week’s conference. Of particular note was the highly engaging presentation by Dr. Jack Brown, a Nonverbal Communication and Body Language Expert. He works
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Crime Stoppers International Conference Report Barb Boehmer Acting Coordinator Upper Fraser Valley Crime Stoppers Oh the weather was wonderful; hot and dry and such a pleasure while we were in Las Vegas. The conference was outstanding, right from registration through all of the seminars, it was well organized and there was much to learn. Being relatively new to Upper Fraser Valley Crime Stoppers the coming in of the colors, and the name tags with countries attached made me realize that we were part of something so much bigger, in fact, international. It struck home and made me proud to be part of that larger picture. Best of all everyone was so friendly and willing to help each other. I had many questions and always received either answers or a card to call if I needed help.
We learned how others kept their organizations running, how to do fundraising, and with horror about human trafficking and tried to envision it in our community. We vowed to do something; I’m not sure what, but certainly to raise awareness about this issue. The days were full with so much information to digest. Human trafficking, body language— it was all there. And everyone there was on a mission to learn more and keep our programs running. We stayed outside of the hotel and were able to enjoy free time in the evening digesting what we had learned that day while sitting on the balcony, in the warm Las Vegas evenings. Our board is struggling like so many others. Funding is hard to come by, board members are hard to entice and the volunteer work the board has to do is sometimes difficult. We don’t have volunteer members as such; just volunteer board members and everyone’s time is limited. But I believe that with enthusiasm and hardworking volunteers we can make a go of it. It was an eye opener and again made us realize we’re part of something so much bigger.
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Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers & Radio Station CKNW Win International Public Service Award Shirley Stocker Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers and Radio Station CKNW were the recipients of the CSI award for Public Service Announcement at the recent CSI convention in Las Vegas for radio messages asking for Crime Stoppers tips right after the 2011 Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver. Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers (MVCS) was one of the first local agencies and CKNW among the first local media outlets to respond to the events that followed the Vancouver Canucks loss in the deciding game of the National Hockey League championship final. An estimated 100,000 people had crowded into the streets of downtown Vancouver to watch that game on large television screens, when what has been labeled as
“a small group of troublemakers” began a disturbance, setting police and private vehicles on fire, smashing windows and looting stores. At least 140 people were injured; among them at least nine police officers. More than 115 people were arrested; property damage directly attributable to the rioting has been estimated in excess of four-million dollars. These announcements were written and voiced by MVCS volunteer (director) John Ashbridge and produced for broadcast by CKNW Radio, which provides its yearround production services and broadcast airtime to MVCS without charge. Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers received hundreds of tips about activities at the riot. The response was overwhelming.
Michael Gordon Gibson presenting the CSI media award for Public Service Announcment to Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers: Shirley Stocker, Ron Fairweather, Deb Martens, Michael Gordon Gibson, John Ashbridge, Linda Annis.
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After Las Vegas: Major Restructuring for Crime Stoppers International (CSI) Report from Ralph Page President Canada Crime Stoppers Secretary Crime Stoppers International I wanted to advise you of some very recent developments regarding Crime Stoppers International (CSI) which have come to our attention following the Las Vegas CSI Training Conference. After the close of the conference a letter was sent to the president of CSI stating Crime Stoppers UK’s decision to withdraw from CSI effective immediately and suggesting that finances was the major reason. This was a threat which CSI had been facing for a couple of years. The UK directors indicated that Lord Ashcroft, the Chair of their Board of Trustees of the Trust, was the person behind the threat. We had hoped the position they have taken would not have materialized. After receiving this letter, the CSI Board started to see copies of a letter from the incoming Chair of Crime Stoppers USA to their members. This letter indicated they had also made a decision to withdraw from CSI effective December 31, 2012. They again cited financial reasons as one of the major reasons. CSI had been advised a couple of years earlier that CSUSA would be unable or unwilling to continue paying dues at the existing level. At the post conference board meeting they were asked to be patient while CSI worked through the fundraising matters. CSUSA has decided not to give that latitude. Also in this letter CSUSA indicated the creation of a new
International Alliance of Crime Stoppers between the UK and the US which indicates to CSI that this action was preplanned and not developed in Las Vegas. The CSI position is that no one region can benefit from the exclusion of the others. CSI believes that dues need to be reduced for all members after success in fundraising and coming up with an alternate source of revenue. CSI is not closing the door on either organization at this time and will of course be open for discussions, as appropriate, going forward. In the meantime we will be able to move CSI forward as a revitalized International Organization and will be sharing details with you as they become available. It will now be possible for us to move this organization forward without having to expend any more of our energy on threats from these two organizations as we have had to for the past 2 years or so. As I am sure you can all appreciate the executive committee of CSI has not had much opportunity to work together yet to help set direction for the coming months. Once these issues are resolved we will be able to do this. I ask for your patience as we work through this period. What does this mean for your program? In the immediate term, the actions of Crime Stoppers USA and Crime Stoppers UK do not impact our programs. Tip Soft will continue. The collection of statistics will continue. There will be an annual CSI Conference. Please be reassured that while this represents a setback for CSI it does not signal the end of the organization. The remaining Regions of the world remain committed to the principles of Crime Stoppers and we do have some important initiatives underway
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with regard to global expansion and global fundraising. Two new programs in the Caribbean will be announced before the end of 2012. It has been and remains a goal of CSI to reduce if not eliminate dues from members over time and we are confident we will be able to accomplish this. Please be assured that the three Canadian Crime Stoppers members on the CSI Board of Directors will continue to represent Canada well at the CSI Board
level and will ensure our interests are properly represented. Canada is very well respected by the other members and often looked up to in terms of our achievements and ability to be successful despite our various differences in cultures and language. We are obviously proud of this and you all should be too. Thank you for your ongoing support. ď‚Ś
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Revelstoke Crime Stoppers Participated in the Emergency Services Food Drive Roberta Ciolli President Revelstoke Crime Stoppers
“I’m absolutely vibrating!” exclaimed Krista Carnegie, who put a great deal of effort into organizing the two-day food drive.
The Emergency Services Food Drive raised an astonishing 9,854 lbs (4,470 kilos) of non-perishable foods for the Community Connections Food Bank along with $2,682.50 in cash donations from families and $1,000.00 in Cooper’s cards from the Knights of Pythias. An anonymous donor matched the cash donations of $2682.00 from the Food Drive last week, bringing the total cash donations to $5365.00!
“People were amazing! People were actually coming out to the curb with their donations to meet our volunteers.” About 240 men, women and children from about 20 different groups volunteered their time on Wednesday and Thursday nights to gather the donations for the food-strapped Community Connections Food Bank.
Director Dave Holtom; President Roberta Ciolli; Secretary Shawn Filipchuk; Manager of the Revelstoke Food Bank Patti Larson; Vice-President Angela Waterson; and Director Corylie Dias.
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Crime Stoppers Update: Terrace
Ian Nankervis President for Terrace Crime Stoppers looking after the booth at the Terrace Small Business Trade Show
By Barb Petrick-Raposo Vice President Terrace Crime Stoppers This year in April 2012 we were able to set up a booth at our local Small Business Trade Show. We set this up for the weekend and the Chamber of Commerce donated the space to us.
Terrace Crime Stoppers has also received a donation of two IPads from one of the local rotary clubs and we are running a contest with the schools to help design two posters. Terrace Crimes Stoppers has had a very busy year and we hope 2013 will be the same or better.
We are really trying to make our community more aware of Terrace Crime Stoppers. President Ian has been very active in helping us raise money as well as awareness. This year we have raised over $10,000.00 from many different organizations and grant money as well as our local Jail and Bailout. We have also implemented “texting” and we are now working on a webpage. We will be adding two signs onto the highway near our community.
Terrace Crime Stoppers Jail and Bailout August 2012
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BC Crime Stoppers Membership Benefits When your program pays its dues, it joins power with all of the 29 programs in the province to provide a critical mass that pays for services to benefit every program. Here are the services your program receives as part of its membership: Directors & Officers Liability Insurance BC Crime Stoppers provides errors and omissions insurance for the directors and officers of your program. This insurance generally covers a program from possible financial malfeasance issues. PLEASE NOTE - Member programs are responsible for obtaining their own general liability insurance to cover their employees, volunteers, events and physical assets. Telephone 1-800 Provincial Tips Line BC Crime Stoppers pays the cost for the 1-800 service cost on behalf of all member programs. BCAB is charged 10 cents per call and all long distance charges between the tipster and the termination point of the call. There is a significant benefit to having one Crime Stoppers tips line number across Canada that promotes better awareness of the availability and ease of use as the tipster can call the same telephone number anywhere in the country to report a crime.
population, at the same time that membership fees are billed. This money is placed in the Legal Reserve Fund and is not used for operating expenses. Membership in Canada Crime Stoppers and in Crime Stoppers International BC Crime Stoppers sends representatives to National and International conferences to ensure that the interests of all British Columbia Crime Stoppers programs are well served. Maintenance of BC Crime Stoppers website www.britishcolumbiacrimestoppers.com is maintained and updated. The website handles secure online tips and arranges to have those tips forwarded to local programs. BC Crime Stoppers Quarterly Newsletter Invitation to participate in the annual BC Crime Stoppers Training Conference and the opportunity to compete for Annual Awards. Voting privilege at the BC Crime Stoppers Annual General Meeting. ď‚Ś
Production
Telephone Call & Tip Taking Answering Service BC Crime Stoppers pays the cost for the 24/7 telephone call / tip taking answering service provided by Alternative Answers.
Tim Kelley - Executive Editor
Legal Reserve Fund - Some funding each year is set aside in a Legal Reserve Fund in case of a need for legal assistance by any program or the BCAB to protect their program and/or the confidential information that they possess. Each program is assessed a proportionate share of this amount, based on their
Marina Glassford - Editor
Rick Caswell - Production Advisor Kyle Garvey - Co-ordinator Ken Miller - Photo Editor Kate Masters - Design/Layout Ilya Stavitsky - Design/Layout
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