TIPS ON DRUGS UP IN CITY

Kamloops residents angered about the drug trade picked up the phone more
often in 2002 to rat on their neighbours.

Of the 976 tips to Crime Stoppers, 30 per cent involved drug-related
offences and the numbers keep growing.

Last year, the tips line received 297 drug-related calls - a 14 per cent
increase from 2001.

"That tells us people are upset and concerned about the illegal drug
trade," says Kamloops and District Crime Stoppers co-ordinator Pete Netherway.

Marijuana-grow operations, including the indoor kind down the street, got a
lot of attention.

The tips line received 116 calls about these in 2002, up from 109 the year
before.

Since Crime Stoppers' inception in 1984, tipsters have helped police take
more than $14 million worth of drugs off local streets. "We're going up
year after year," Netherway says of the steady increase in all tips.

The 976 tips in 2002 represents a six per cent increase over 2001.

"The more tips we get, the more we're able to assist the RCMP in trying to
solve crime."

And help solve crime they did, adds Netherway, although Crime Stoppers
doesn't like to divulge the details in order to protect the identity and
safety of their tipsters.

While Crime Stoppers plans to continue building on its successes - on Jan.
5, it reached the 10,000 mark in tips - there is one area the phone line is
sorely failing.

Auto theft, which has reached record levels in the city, has generated very
few tips.

"The most significant thing about our stats is our inability to address
auto crime.... We can't seem to address the epidemic of theft of vehicles
and theft from vehicles."

Bigger rewards for tipsters, says Netherway, may be the answer.