Media industry leader announced as new Crime Stoppers South Australia Ambassador

Posted on 08/09/2020

Channel 9 Adelaide Managing Director, Mr Sean O’Brien, has been announced as the newest Ambassador for Crime Stoppers South Australia, joining a number of other top-level South Australian business and industry leaders.

Crime Stoppers South Australia Chair, Ms Sharon Hanlon, said Mr O’Brien’s appointment further strengthened support from Channel 9 Adelaide, which renewed its commitment as major media partner in 2018 for an additional 3-year period.

“Sean has been a long-standing supporter of Crime Stoppers and we are very excited at taking that to the next level through his involvement as one of our Ambassadors. Being able to tap into Sean’s strategic insight, significant media experience and his extensive business relationships will be critical to our growth and sustainability,” Ms Hanlon said.

“Crime Stoppers SA is a charity that has to self-fund its own operations, rewards and crime prevention campaigns, and our hope is that Sean and our other recently-announced Ambassadors will encourage businesses to work with us so we can continue to provide people with platforms to anonymously share what they know about unsolved crime and suspicious activity without saying who they are,” she said.

In welcoming his appointment, Mr O’Brien said he was looking forward to building on awareness about Crime Stoppers SA and its efforts to help solve and prevent crime in the community.

“Too many people are still unaware that Crime Stoppers SA is a charity governed by a small but hard-working group of professionals who volunteer their time and share their expertise because they want to make a difference. Crime – and the fear of crime – impacts on the entire community and ultimately the confidence of the state, which is why we need to get as many individuals, businesses and government behind this critical crime-solving organisation,” Mr O’Brien said.

“I am honoured to become an Ambassador. Channel 9 Adelaide places great importance on actively contributing to a safer community through our long-standing partnership with Crime Stoppers as their major media partner, and this is a way that I can personally build on that commitment.”

In May 2020 Andrew Marshall, President of the Master Builders Association, Philip Morton, Managing Director of Morton Philips, Jodie van Deventer, CEO for the Committee for Adelaide and Martin Haese, CEO at Business SA were announced as the inaugural Crime Stoppers SA Ambassadors.

Mr O’Brien has been the Managing Director of Channel 9 Adelaide since 2013.  This is his second stint at Nine, previously having worked as Sales Director from 2001-2009.  Between roles at Nine, he was the General Manager at FIVEaa and Nova 919. He has over 30 years sales and business leadership experience in the Media Industry as well as with Telethon SA, Down Syndrome SA and White Ribbon Australia.

This latest announcement follows the 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.

Crime Stoppers in South Australia has a long-term partnership with SA Police as well as Police Credit Union – which recently renewed its commitment as a major funding partner for another 3-year period.

 

 

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