Crime Stoppers South Australia applauds budget commitment from State Government

Posted on 12/11/2020

Crime Stoppers SA welcomes the allocation of $800,000 in this week’s State Budget.

The commitment will see Crime Stoppers receiving $200,000 per annum over four years to offset operational costs and deliver critical crime-solving and prevention activities to the community.

Crime Stoppers South Australia Chair, Ms Sharon Hanlon, said an average of 25 crimes continue to be solved each and every week as a direct result of information provided to Crime Stoppers, with more than 33,900 cases and nearly 22,100 apprehensions since it first started in SA back in 1996.

“As a charity run by volunteers this financial commitment allows us to reinstate a number of important crime solving and community education programs, enhance the IT associated with our anonymous reporting platform to encourage even more South Australians to share what they know with us, and maintain our self-funded community reward scheme which has paid out more than $250,000,” Ms Hanlon said.

“Once we finalise the funding agreement our intention is to reinstate a number of important crime prevention initiatives across regional and rural communities and better engage with culturally diverse members of the community which have needed to be put on hold due to our uncertain funding position until this point.”

The budget commitment follows release by Crime Stoppers SA of its half-year results up to 30 June 2020, which saw nearly 10,000 calls received in the first 6-months of 2020 and more than 2,800 online reports. Over 6,000 information reports were taken from the community and nearly 6,500 actions issued to police for investigation, resulting in seizure of 20 firearms, closure of 5 clandestine labs and arrests of people for murder, armed robberies and violent assaults. In addition, more than 127,500 cannabis street deals and nearly 2000 methamphetamine deals were stopped from reach South Australian streets in the same period.

“We remain grateful for the significant in-kind contributions from SA Police and our media partner Channel 9, and cash sponsorship from Police Credit Union. We are also grateful for a nominal annual grant from the Federal Government via Crime Stoppers Australia to run targeted crime prevention campaigns,” Ms Hanlon said.

“While this State Government commitment now gives us some breathing space after an uncertain period, we will continue to work hard at seeking partnerships with businesses who understand that a safer community needs a united effort if we are to make a difference,” she said.

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