Every Tip we get at Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington (CSGW) is different, but the Tipsters are all the same; they just want to stop criminal activity in their community.
The motivation for each these individuals is unique to them. Some are looking out for their family, friends and neighbors. Some have insight into what’s happening because they themselves have been involved in illegal activity.
One thing that we periodically hear is that they are contacting CSGW because they aren’t satisfied with the response they received from a police service. To clarify, this is not a large number of calls, and it’s not that the police have done anything wrong, the Tipster simply wasn’t satisfied with the response from the police partner, and so they turn to CSGW, hoping for a different outcome.
While CSGW is not a police organization, we do work alongside police, so it is easy to see how this could be confusing. When you call CSGW you have reached a not for profit organization that keeps Tipsters anonymous and their information confidential. We don’t have our own investigators. We take your information, sanitize it so you cannot be identified, and pass it along to police.
Here’s an example; let’s say you called a police service with information or a complaint of incidents in your community, and you didn’t like the response you received from the officer you spoke with. Now you call CSGW and give the same information. We have two issues here: firstly, because police will likely know it was you providing the CSGW Tip because they spoke with you days before and you gave the same information, so it’s hard to say that you are anonymous; secondly, just because the information comes to police as a CSGW Tip does not make it any more important or actionable. It’s still the same information you provided them directly. If they couldn’t do anything with the information when you gave it to them, they are likely going to say the same thing to us, which we will relay to you when you call back to follow up on your Tip.
In fairness, a lot happens behind the scenes in a police investigation, and it takes a lot longer than you would think. This is good because Tips are information, not evidence. The police must conduct an investigation to obtain evidence. There is a big difference.
Remember, if you have information about a crime and wish to remain anonymous, submit a tip at www.csgw.tips or call 1-800-222-TIPS. Your information is confidential and if your tip leads to an arrest, you receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.
