Police welcome launch of Crimestoppers NZ

The anonymous Crimestoppers service being launched today will help Police and other law enforcement agencies solve crime, Commissioner Howard Broad says.

Crimestoppers gathers information volunteered anonymously from the public and passes it on to Police.

The service is independent of government, Police and other law enforcement agencies.

"Information flow is the lifeblood of policing and experience in the UK has shown Crimestoppers is very successful in helping Police to identify both crimes and criminals," Mr Broad says.

"The Crimestoppers' guarantee of anonymity provides a way for people to feel safe about passing on what they know, so we're likely to receive information of a type we haven't had before and from people who would not normally come forward."

Mr Broad says Crimestoppers may help Police resolve some crimes more quickly.

"Even in New Zealand where we have a good record of apprehending offenders, it sometimes takes longer than we would like to obtain the key piece of information that leads to an arrest.

"Crimestoppers' guarantee of anonymity may prompt people to pass on information sooner. That means we'll be able to stop some offenders before they have the chance to do more damage, and get positive news earlier to victims," Mr Broad says.

As a new service based on anonymity, Crimestoppers will not compete with existing ways of contacting Police.

In situations where people know something about a crime and are willing to be identified, they should contact Police in the usual way.

"Crimestoppers does not detract from the general public duty to help Police by giving information directly as informants or witnesses and we have a long and successful history of the public coming forward to do that," Mr Broad says.

People should continue to call 111 in emergencies and *555 to report traffic matters, while non-urgent crime should be reported to local police stations.

The Crimestoppers phone number to give information anonymously is 0800 555111. People can also submit an encrypted online form via www.crimestoppers-nz.org (from 4pm today).

Crimestoppers NZ is being launched this afternoon at a function hosted by Manukau City Council.