Scotland Crimestoppers has achieved a 5% rise in calls and a 25% increase in arrests and charges across Scotland over the last year of April 2010 – March 2011. This has been boosted by the massive 135% rise in arrests in the Strathclyde area from 133 last year to 313 this year. [23 May 2011]

Kate Jackson, Assistant National Manager of Scotland Crimestoppers said: “It seems to be clear that members of the public are just not prepared to put up with criminal behaviour. A huge thank you must go to people across Scotland for using the charity to pass on information about crime. We’re extremely proud that Crimestoppers continues to play such a vital role in helping to make our local communities a safer place to live.

“I’d like to reassure the public that our service is completely anonymous and in the 23 years that the charity has been running no one has ever been identified.  The service is run for you, the public, to help make your community a safer place to live. We’re not part of the Police or government, we’re an independent charity, so by contacting us you’ll never have to give a statement to the Police or go to court.”

Successful campaigns

A number of campaigns have been run both locally and nationally within Scotland over the last year including counterfeit goods in the Highlands, public protection in Dumfries and Galloway; underage drinking in Fife; and serious organised crime campaigns in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. In addition, Crimestoppers has led a number of high-profile national campaigns to tackle crimes affecting the area including the cannabis cultivation campaign which led to increases in calls and detections after the campaign highlighted to the public the tell-tale signs to look for.

The recorded increases shows that the quality of information Crimestoppers has received during the past year has been of a very high quality, whilst there is only a 5% increase in information, many more individuals have been arrested as shown by the 25% increase this year.