Drugs worth nearly £162,000 have been seized and more than £15,500 of property recovered by Essex police after a big rise in calls to the crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers last year. [15 June 2012]

There were more than 2,000 calls to Essex Crimestoppers - 315 more than the same time in the previous year; an 18 per cent increase. Information from the calls resulted in 79 arrests and charges. 

The independent charity Crimestoppers operates a 24/7 free hotline and a website where people can give information about crime anonymously. Rewards are also offered for information.

Most calls to the independent charity about Essex during the past 12 months to the end of March were about drug trafficking and drug supply. The biggest increase was in calls about drugs. There were 856 compared with 788 during the same period the previous year. There were also 221 calls about drug production.

There was a 200 per cent increase in calls to Crimestoppers and three arrests following a burglary reduction campaign in Clacton run jointly with Essex Police and Tendering Community Safety Partnership.

Rewards totalling £18,000 were offered by the charity for information about crimes in the county. It included a £3,000 reward offer about a concrete block thrown on to a car on the A12 at Margaretting near Chelmsford in November. A £3,000 reward was also offered to catch a man who raped a 14 year old schoolgirl in Southend.

Crimestoppers Regional Manager Ann Scott said: “This increase in calls clearly shows that the people of Essex trust the charity Crimestoppers and want to help make their communities safer. With your help, we can help to bring more criminals to justice”.

Crimestoppers uses an anonymous 0800 555 111 number and secure online form to gather information from people to help police solve crimes. Callers remain anonymous and  messages cannot be traced.

Ann Scott said: “We never ask for names or take any personal details and we don’t trace calls or IP addresses and don’t record calls. Those giving information don’t have to give a statement to police or go to court. In the 24 years that we have been running we have never revealed anyone’s identity”.

The Crimestoppers charity was started in the UK in 1988 by Lord Ashcroft, Chancellor of the Chelmsford-based Anglia Ruskin University.

www.crimestoppers-uk.org.