CRIME STOPPERS PAYS OUT $12,000 TO HELP POLICE SOLVE 77 CASES

Anonymous tipsters pocketed more than $12,000 last year as a reward
for supplying helpful information to Regina Crime Stoppers.

But it was the Regina Police Service that really benefited, seizing
$265,000 worth of drugs and property as a result of the calls. Crime
Stoppers, which offers people cash for tips or reports of criminal
activity that lead to arrests, helped police apprehend 80 people last
year. Police also solved 77 cases because of phone calls to its tip
hotline.

"From a policing point of view, it's about three calls a day that
we're receiving through the Crime Stoppers program," police chief Cal
Johnston at a media conference Tuesday.

"Not every call will lead to an arrest, but as you can see from the
numbers, each and every week there are cases solved and property and
or drugs recovered."

Johnston said he sees improvements being made in decreasing property
and violent crime, and credits that to partnerships between police and
the community. Police must have enforcement and investigation, along
with community involvement, in order to help control crime, Johnston
said.

"It's all together, it's not one thing. If you don't have a successful
and viable Crime Stoppers program, you're not going to be able to show
progress because you need their help," he said.

Last year, the Crime Stopper hotline fielded nearly 1,000 calls
offering information on a variety of crimes.

Regina Crime Stoppers president Paul Saum said the organization hopes
to maintain its profile in the coming year. In order to do that, the
local branch of the Crime Stoppers program plans to continue raising
funds through its annual golf tournament and other events.

"I don't see any major change," Saum said.

"The program has been around for a number of years now. It works. It's
just a matter of continuing to do the fund-raising and the promotion
that goes along with it."