Campaigns

West Midlands Crimestoppers runs campaigns in the region, to raise awareness about crimes that might be affecting your communities. Most recently, we've been working on a 'Communities Against Crime' campaign, to help reduce crime in Birmingham.

In order to run more campaigns like this in the West Midlands, we need the help of more volunteers to do so. If you're interested in volunteering for West Midlands Crimestoppers, please fill out our Volunteer Enquiry Form.

Communities against crime

We launched a new 12-month campaign last July, to help reduce crime in Birmingham, thanks to local sports celebrities.

A dedicated new Crimestoppers volunteer group called ‘Communities Against Crime' was launched at a family fun day in Ward End Park in Washwood Heath in July, to reassure people they can call Crimestoppers safely and anonymously about criminals.

The exciting day was supported by local stars, Qasim Nisar, Kick Boxing Champion and Wayne Alcock, Middle Weight Champion. There was fun to be had for all the family, including interactive circus acts and bouncy castles for the young, health checks and entertainment for everyone. This fantastic day was funded by Birmingham City Council Washwood Heath Ward NRF and supported by a range of partners including Saltley Business Association.

Local school children helped in the launch of the new initiative by designing a special leaflet in 5 languages, explaining how contacting Crimestoppers can help reduce crime. The leaflets will continue to be distributed across Birmingham in areas such as Alum Rock, Handsworth, Lozells, Balsall Heath, Small Heath and Highgate until June 2008.

Maz Iqbal, Chair of Communities Against Crime said at the launch: “This group was set up to increase awareness of Crimestoppers within Asian communities across the West Midlands.

“Crimestoppers is an independent charity which relies on volunteers and donors at corporate and individual levels to help to reduce crime.

“We urge communities to be more proactive in giving information to the charity about crime and criminals. We will be working with many organisations on the family fun day and beyond to achieve this goal.

“Communities Against Crime is the first of many Crimestoppers initiatives to be set up and we are proud to be a leading part in this fight against crime and creating a safe environment for you and your children.”

More than 20,000 leaflets are being distributed in places of worship, community and shopping centres, while posters are also being displayed to encourage the local community to call the charity anonymously on 0800 555 111 with information.

Masood Yasin, from Washwood Heath Youth and Community Network, sponsor of the leaflets said: “Sometimes people know who is causing problems in their community but do not wish to talk to the police. They can call Crimestoppers safely and know they are helping to make their area a more pleasant and safe place to be.”

Anonymity is guaranteed to anyone who provides information about criminals. This latest campaign follows the success of last year's initiatives, which saw the number of calls about criminals in the area increase by 37% to 4,400 and resulted in the recovery of nearly £200,000 worth of stolen property and drugs.

Research shows that 63% of the information Crimestoppers receives would not otherwise be known to the police. Since Crimestoppers started in the UK there have been nearly 1million calls leading to the recovery of £93million worth of stolen property and £128 million worth of drugs and nearly 100,000 criminals taken off the streets.

Kadeer Arif, Washwood Heath Town Centre Manager said: “Birmingham's Washwood Heath Ward Town Centre Partnership are privileged to host the launch of the first Crimestoppers Communities Against Crime initiative in the UK. Our ward is serious about creating confidence amongst residents to help tackle crime head on. We hope that by working with schools and our statutory partners, our local town centres and residential areas will continue to be safe area for residents and shoppers".