TURN IN A DEALER, TAKE HOME $4,000

Crime Stoppers Program Doubles Reward for Tips

METHAMPHETAMINE dealers and those who make the highly addictive street
drug now have a special bounty on their heads, thanks to the
province's cash-for-tips Crime Stoppers program.

Staring tomorrow, Crime Stoppers will double the reward for
information on the making and sale of methamphetamine anywhere in Manitoba.

It means a tipster -- all tips are anonymous -- can earn as much as
$4,000 with a single call, if that information pans out with a
significant seizure or arrest.

This doubling up of reward money runs until the end of February and
also features a public information campaign on the drug.

"This is about Manitobans getting together to stop the scourge of
meth," Manitoba Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh said. "We have to
send a message to youth: Don't try this -- not even once."

RCMP Sgt. Larry Renkas said this is the first time the three branches
of Crime Stoppers in Manitoba have come together to work on a single
project. RCMP, Winnipeg police and Brandon police each have a Crime
Stoppers program.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Darrell Madill and Brandon police Chief
Richard Bruce said the project is counting on Manitobans of every
stripe to supply information.

"Unfortunately, meth works like a cancer cell," Bruce
said.

"If we don't do something about it, it will consume
us."

The Crime Stoppers meth reward program comes two weeks after city
police made the largest seizure of methamphetamine in Winnipeg.
Officers seized two kilograms of methamphetamine at a downtown hotel
and charged two Vancouver men with trafficking.

Police pegged the street value of the drug at $90,000.

Winnipeg Crime Stoppers chairman Gerry Pope said the volunteer
organization also acted because of the series of Free Press stories in
December detailing methamphetamine addiction and Canada's lack of
controls to stop production of the drug.

"We want to get information out and stay ahead of the curve," he said,
adding methamphetamine addiction and related crime are far worse south
of the border. Crime Stoppers was set up 22 years ago with a simple
mission: To help police catch criminals. Callers remain anonymous and
are eligible to earn cash rewards up to $2,000.

The amount of the reward depends on the nature of the tip; tips
leading to the arrest of a homicide suspect or major drug seizure earn
more money than other crimes, like property thefts.

In 2005, tips to Crime Stoppers in Manitoba led to the seizure of more
than $29 million in drugs and the recovery of $3.2 million in stolen
property.

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HOW CRIME STOPPERS WORKS

Tipsters call 1-800-222-8477 and speak to a police
officer.

Because of how it's set up, the caller's identity is never revealed.
Instead, a caller gets a number.

Police investigate the tip, and if it leads to an arrest or drug
seizure, the tipster then becomes eligible for a cash reward. In the
22 years Crime Stoppers has been operating, a tipster has never been
exposed.

For more information on methamphetamine and how to spot a lab, go to
the Winnipeg Police Service's website at www.winnipeg.ca/police/