GROW-OP TIPS DRAINING BUDGET

Marijuana is slowly bleeding Crime Stoppers of Niagara.

The community-based tip line's raison d'etre is to generate tips for
police and pay cash rewards for those that result in an arrest or
conviction.

But Crime Stoppers has a limited budget. Most of the around $23,000
it needs to run its operations and pay for tips comes through
fundraising.

"We're not funded by the government. We are not an arm of the
police," said Crime Stoppers of Niagara chairman Stu Black. "We get
our money through donations."

So it's simple math: the more successful tips that come in, the more
money Crime Stoppers pays out. And in the last two years, it has been
paying out a lot, thanks to tips about pot-growing operations. "I was
very concerned this past summer that we were in real danger," said
Black. "We are getting so many tips about marijuana growing
operations, particularly in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, that
we've been paying out more."

Black said the exact figures on how much Crime Stoppers of Niagara
has paid for grow-op tips aren't being released. However, he said it
was enough that in the summer the organization was facing a financial
crisis.

With some funding from the Niagara Regional Police Services Board,
Crime Stoppers hosted a training conference in June that raised
enough money to get the organization out of trouble.

More recently, a successful fundraising effort in conjunction with
the Niagara IceDogs helped raise money to offset the costs of paying
for grow-op tips.

While the NRP provides an officer who co-ordinates activities between
Crime Stoppers and the police - including taking and processing tips
that come in through its 1-800 number - the service does not operate
or fund Crime Stoppers.

"We're an entirely volunteer organization," Black said. "There is a
real misconception that Crime Stoppers is a government organization
or somehow run by the police.

"It's still a real struggle year to year," said Black.

For example, the organization used to have a van marked with the
Crime Stoppers logo that helped raise its community profile. But the
van was lost to an accident a few years ago and Crime Stoppers has
been unable to find a sponsor for a new one.

He said Crime Stoppers of Niagara is trying to raise its profile and
bring in new volunteers to help the organization build a better future.

"You always have a core of people who do a tremendous amount of good
work, but new blood always helps you look at things from a fresh
perspective," he said.

Ironically, the lure of being paid for tips has resulted in what
Black describes as the "bad guys" ratting on each other, particularly
when it comes to marijuana grows.

"Some people who know there is a grow-op in their neighbourhood just
want it out of there and they don't care about the money," Black
said. "For others, well, they want the money and that includes the
bad guys."

Whatever the reason for the tips, however, Black says Crime Stoppers
wants them.

"Crime Stoppers does make the community a better a place, and that's
why I'm involved," Black said. "And those inside tips are often very
important."

Tips are completely anonymous, Black said. Crime Stoppers gives a
tipster a special ID code that is the only way the organization
tracks tips.

"So when a reward is paid out, the person takes their number to the
bank we deal with and they are given cash, no questions asked," he
said.

Niagara Regional Police Chief Wendy Southall said Crime Stoppers is
invaluable to police.

"It's absolutely an important service and I and my staff certainly
support it," said Southall. "Any information is useful for our
members in the course of their investigations."

But just as Crime Stoppers has its own problems, it's not always
smooth sailing for the police, either. Southall said it is sometimes
difficult to keep an officer in the co-ordinator's position.

"If we have a member in that position who wants to move on with his
or her career, there isn't anything I can do about that," Southall
said.

And because the service assigns only one person to that position,
when that officer is not on duty, no one is there to process tips.

"There is an answering service that will take the tip and forward it
to the co-ordinator who can then process it later on," Black said.

Southall said she hasn't talked to Black specifically about finding
ways to have someone take tips when the co-ordinator is not working,
but said she is willing to work with Crime Stoppers to find solutions.