Record numbers of WA residents are contacting Crime Stoppers to report their crime concerns. More than 150 people per day on average made reports in August.
For the first time, over 5,000 contacts were received in a month, comprising 3,420 answered phone calls and 1,588 ‘contacts other than calls’ in August. Online reports received through the crimestopperswa.com.au website amount to 90% of all ‘contacts other than calls’, while the remaining 10% comprise emails and mail.
Crime Stoppers WA CEO Kim Harrison praised members of the public who took action to make their community safer, especially those who responded to the recent Dob in a Dealer drug campaign.
He also commended the great work of contact centre staff. “The number of actionable intelligence reports resulting from the contacts by the public improved to record levels as well,” said Mr Harrison. “Staff wrote 3,192 information reports from the contacts, which meant around two thirds were converted into actionable police intelligence. This was a credit to staff.”
Mr Harrison said not all contacts could be converted into intelligence data for various reasons such as when insufficient details were provided, or if people changed their minds and didn’t complete their report.
The number of online reports is increasing at a dramatic rate, rising 66% to a record total of 14,788, which was one third of all contacts in 2015-16.
Crime Stoppers offers a free, easy and confidential service for everyone – people can even use their mobile devices and include photos with their online reports.