Highly skilled investigative work supported by information from the public is paying dividends in solving crime, say police.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Win van der Velde says the results from Crimestoppers' first year are encouraging.
"Police have laid close to 150 criminal charges against more than 60 offenders based on Crimestoppers information. Most of the offending relates to the manufacture, supply and distribution of drugs. Thanks to Crimestoppers' guarantee of anonymity, we're starting to see information coming through that we didn't have access to before."
Mr van der Velde says one of the issues about detecting and investigating crime is dealing with people's perceptions of the risk of passing on what they know.
"Sometimes people are too frightened or they don't want to contact Police for some other reason. Crimestoppers is a safe way to speak up about what they know."
In the first 12 months of its operation, Crimestoppers received more than 7,200 calls. Of those, 40% were judged to contain enough information for Police to do something with.
Mr van der Velde says Crimestoppers tips don't always result in Police taking immediate action.
"Sometimes the information we get is insufficient to do anything with immediately. But over time we might get other intelligence, which when added together with information coming through from Crimestoppers, will give us enough to take action."
He says public information direct to police or through Crimestoppers continues to play an invaluable role in helping police solve crime.
"One year down the track we're more attuned to the role of Crimestoppers and how it can help. We've also established an analyst's position dedicated purely to Crimestoppers."
Mr van der Velde believes as people become more aware of the role Crimestoppers plays in New Zealand, the more successful it will become.
"Crimestoppers is a good way for people to give us information with anonymity about all types of crime from burglaries through to murders.
Ends
Released by Kaye Calder
Public Affairs: PNHQ
tel 04 460 2986 mobile 027 241 6305