Media Releases

The annual national conference is Australia’s leading forum for the collaboration of government agencies, businesses and community organisations to inform and inspire each other to develop community-based initiatives to help solve and prevent crime.

But crime doesn’t occur in a vacuum, and the experience and insight of all Australians, which is so important to developing the rule of law, is equally important to assisting the authorities to enforce it. Even the smallest pieces of information from members of the public can help the police to build cases against sophisticated criminals.

Crime Stoppers is on the offensive! Our goal is to be the community’s instrument for disrupting crime and to be a trusted resource for the public about the nature of modern crime. We work to reduce the impact of crime with appropriate intervention strategies – strong partnerships with the community and police, effective marketing campaigns and a strategy responsive to the growth and evolution of crime.

Please join us in Canberra for our 2018 Annual National Conference where we bring together the collective capabilities of key influencers and critical stakeholders to consider how we can engage Australian communities in keeping us all safe.

Trevor O’Hara
Chair – Crime Stoppers Australia

In April, we profiled the unsolved stabbing murder of 36-year old mother Suzanne Poll at the Parabanks Shopping Centre, Salisbury in 1993, as well as the bashing murder of David Saint near South Terrace in April 1991. We also appealed for help to solve a serious assault at Gawler, and identified a woman wanted over an assault on a taxi driver at Golden Grove.

During the month:

• We received 2,272 telephone calls and reports via the website and our Report Suspicious Behaviour app;
• A total of 1075 intelligence reports were generated, and 917 actions issued for investigation;
• 7,656 people went to our website and generated more than 23,891 page views;
• 3 clandestine drug labs were shut down, and 78g and 3 litres of amphetamine located;
• 12 firearms were seized, as well as ammunition, knives and other dangerous weapons confiscated;
• 30 males and 14 females were apprehended and charged with a range of offences, including Selling/Trafficking a Commercial Quantity of Controlled Drug, Cultivating Cannabis, firearm offences, and theft; and
• 149 cannabis plants and more than 86kg of dry cannabis seized.

If you have any information about criminals and illegal activity, then call the hotline on 1800 333 000, go to crimestopperssa.com.au or download our free Report Suspicious Behaviour app.

Rewards are available and you can remain anonymous

In support of National Scams Awareness Week between 21 – 25 May 2018, Crime Stoppers SA and Police Credit Union have joined forces to help protect South Australians from falling victim to online scammers.

Crime Stoppers South Australia chair, Ms Sharon Hanlon, said whether a scam is spyware that holds your computer hostage, dodgy online merchants, or heartless thieves praying on the elderly, lonely and vulnerable, the threat of online fraud is real.

“The key to combating online fraud is knowing what threats exist and then take a number of easy, proactive steps to beat the scammers and avoid becoming one of their victims,” Ms Hanlon said.

“With ACCC’s Scamwatch receiving almost 33,000 scam reports in 2017 and about 2,800 people losing more than $4.7 million to scammers last year it is great to partner with Police Credit Union to develop this campaign and assist South Australians to stay safe online,” she said.

“Often people get conned because they are good of heart and entirely too trusting of someone that they have never met. They might be tricked into thinking that someone has contacted them to genuinely fix their computer and click on a link that provides a thief direct access to their files. Maybe someone is taken in by a sob story about needing money to overcome a family tragedy that never happened. Other times it is the promise of easy money, with the fraudster asking for a large ‘admin fee’ to be sent to them to handle paperwork costs because the victim has won first prize in a lottery that they never entered.”

Ms Hanlon said that scammers are also becoming more sophisticated in their endeavours, and more are now committing their crime in the background, without a victim even being directly contacted.

“We know of examples where a company has sent an invoice to a legitimate client for payment, but a scammer intercepts that email, changes the banking details to their own, and then sends the invoice on for payment, with the sender and receiver being none the wiser until the invoice is discovered as unpaid down the track,” Ms Hanlon said.

“There are examples of scammers pretending to be from trusted companies or government departments and send a fake bill by email with a link that bypasses your computer’s security and steals your data and passwords. That is why our advice is that if someone is contacted unexpectedly from a government agency or business then verify the identity of the contact through an independent source, such as a phone book or online search,” she said.

Police Credit Union CEO, Mr Costa Anastasiou, said “one of the best ways to protect yourself from potential scams is to regularly go through your transactions and speak to your financial institution immediately if a transaction doesn’t seem right.”

“You can do this using online banking and banking apps. Good financial institutions will always proactively make contact with their members when they see something that could potentially be a scam, so put your trust in a financial institution that is genuinely interested in your banking security and has security measures, such as fingerprint access and security services, in place,” he said.

“If you have elderly relatives and friends then take the time to speak to them about the threat of scams because the over 65 sector continues to fall victim to scammers daily and are heavily over-represented. And always remember that if you’ve sent money or shared your banking or credit card details with someone that you later suspect to be a scammer then contact your financial institution immediately because it may be able to stop or reverse a transaction or close your account.”

To find out more about how to stay safe online go to campaigns page.

Police Credit Union

Formed in 1970, Police Credit Union is proudly South Australian based and headquartered. Today it boasts assets exceeding $950 million and delivers better banking services to over 40000 customers.  Supporting better communities represents an intrinsic pillar of the organisation’s corporate strategy.  Its strong sense of corporate social responsibility spans initiatives both large and small, including, a long-standing partnership with the Police Association of South Australia, a foundation sponsor of SA Police Ride Like Crazy and a 23-year commitment in bringing the Credit Union Christmas Pageant to the streets of Adelaide, representing but a few examples of the organisation’s community investment. Police Credit Union has helped thousands of South Australians achieve their financial goals and dreams with competitive and high value Better Banking products and services. The multi award-winning, values-driven, Member-owned organisation boasts a market leading customer satisfaction rating of 93.7%, 24-7 Internet, Mobile and Phone banking and branches across SA and NT.

More about Police Credit Union can be found at www.policecu.com.au

About Crime Stoppers SA

Crime Stoppers began in South Australia in 1996 and since then has played a critical role in encouraging people to come forward with information that helps to solve crimes and educate on topics such as property and personal safety, vehicle theft, and cyber safety. The program encourages people to be alert and engaged participants in their community and provides a secure way for information about illegal activity and unsolved crimes to be passed to police through an independent toll-free hotline and a website that guarantees anonymity with the option of a reward. Crime Stoppers SA works with police, the media and the public to solve, reduce and prevent crime.

As part of its ongoing efforts to encourage people to come forward with information about criminals and their illegal activities, a number of Crime Stoppers programs from across Australia will focus on engaging culturally and linguistically diverse communities for Crime Stoppers Day on 21 May.

Crime Stoppers South Australia Chair, Ms Sharon Hanlon said the successful crime-solving program had long advocated that crime operates without borders and its expanded national focus on non-English speaking communities reminds people that crime occurs across all different cultural backgrounds.

“We understand that some people might come from countries that are war-torn or with an embedded distrust of police and authority, so it is important to reassure them that Crime Stoppers is an independent program that acts as a trusted link between the community and police if they have information about criminals and illegal activities,” Ms Hanlon said.

“We are seeing people from all walks of life falling victim to large, complex crimes in areas such as fraud, drug making and dealing, human trafficking, child exploitation, and environmental crime so our local focus for Crime Stoppers Day is to promote awareness of the program to all South Australians, regardless of their cultural background,” she said.

“There can be no argument that crime is a crime in any language, and if someone has any information that can help the authorities, then we have well-trained call-takers on standby to help, and we can arrange translation services if needed.”

The 2016 Census shows that nearly half (49%) of Australians had either been born overseas (first generation Australian) or have one or both parents born overseas (second generation Australian).  While England and New Zealand were still the next most common countries of birth after Australia, the proportion of people born in China and India has increased since 2011 (from 6.0% to 8.3%, and 5.6%t to 7.4% respectively).

“Of the more than 6.1m Australians who were born overseas, nearly one in five arrived since the start of 2012, which shows that our community is evolving at a fast rate, and it is critical that Crime Stoppers adapts and keeps pace, which is why we are particularly pleased with the focus of this year’s campaign,” Ms Hanlon said.

“We know that there are over 300 separately identified languages spoken in Australian homes, with more than one-fifth of Australians speaking a language other than English at home – including Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, and Vietnamese,” he said.

“Our message is clear – regardless of what your background may be, everyone can play a part in making a safer and more secure South Australia by stepping up, contacting Crime Stoppers and sharing any information or suspicion they have about illegal activities by calling our toll-free hotline on 1800 333 000 or going to www.crimestopperssa.com.au.”

A linguistically diverse poster and a range of highly-visible digital assets have been developed as part of the Crime Stoppers Day activities.

If you have any information about criminals or criminal activity, then call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, report online at www.crimestopperssa.com.au  or use the Report Suspicious Behaviour app. People can remain anonymous and rewards are available.

Many concerned South Australians have already contacted Crime Stoppers SA with information about ice dealing in their local community in response to a campaign launched in February targeting street level dealers and online drug vendors.

Crime Stoppers South Australia Deputy Chair, Mr Phil Vincent, said a staggering 247% increase in the number of amphetamine-related calls had been experienced since the campaign launched two months ago from people wanting to help stop the supply of ice.

“Thanks to information provided to Crime Stoppers SA, police have acted quickly to locate and shut down three clandestine drug laboratories in South Australia and arrested 10 people for a number of significant amphetamine-related offences including trafficking in large commercial quantities of Controlled Drugs,” Mr Vincent said.

“Information provided through Crime Stoppers has also sparked a number of raids right across the Adelaide metropolitan and regional areas, resulting in illegal drugs and precursor chemicals being seized, including Fantasy, Amphetamine, GHB, and Cannabis,” he said.

“And in addition to drugs, an arsenal of weapons has also been discovered, including knives and an array of firearm and, as well as seizure of a treasure trove of stolen property and cash. We have no doubt that this is only the beginning of great results from our ice campaign thanks to the community.”

Mr Vincent said the campaign would continue across regional and metropolitan locations for the next three months to stay top of mind for people and encourage anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers SA.

“We have seen 360 amphetamine-related information reports raised during February and March, which gives police significant intelligence holdings to action immediately where appropriate or consider as part of a longer-term investigation. The volume of contacts we have experienced so far demonstrates the preparedness of people to step up and stop the hurt being experienced by families,” Mr Vincent said.

“We know that all too often drug dealers are operating their illicit trade in full sight of the community, and they are now being held to account for the crisis they continue to cause by their very own social networks,” he said.

“Someone might have a family member who is an ice addict and they know who the dealer is. Perhaps it is a person that is on the edge of a network of broader friends. Maybe there are odd coming and goings at a neighbour’s house. Whatever the circumstances, people can be confident that Crime Stoppers is a safe, trusted link between the community and police – so our message is to have the courage to make the call and choose to stay anonymous if that suits.”

“While police have to build a case based on hard evidence, people can contact Crime Stoppers even if they have little more than a suspicion. We know that every piece of information can make a real difference.”

The Make the Call. Cut the Supply. Stop the Hurt campaign – launched in partnership with the State Government and SA Police – encourages people to provide anonymous information about street-level and online dealers and manufacturers. The 6-month campaign engages metropolitan and regional communities through radio and TV advertising, online engagement, posters and regional roadshows.

If you have any information about criminals or criminal activity, then call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online at www.crimestopperssa.com.au

People can remain anonymous and rewards are available.