Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 Source: Barrie Advance, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2006 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing Contact: http://www.simcoe.com/sc/barrie/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2192 CRIME STOPPERS MONTH January 2006 marks Crime Stoppers Month. Each January, Crime Stoppers programs around the world celebrate Crime Stoppers Month, to highlight success and promote their crime fighting initiatives. The official launch of Crime Stoppers Month this year will be held internationally at 11 a.m. on January 10. Crime Stoppers of Simcoe-Dufferin-Muskoka will mark the occasion, on a date yet to be determined, with a flag-raising at Barrie City Hall. 2006 is extremely significant for Crime Stoppers since it's the 30th anniversary of the first program, established in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This year also brought some major achievements for Crime Stoppers around the world. Crime Stoppers International, the umbrella organization for all Crime Stoppers programs, was granted Special Consultative Status by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. As a non-governmental organization of NGO representative, CSI is lending its expertise to the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime and has already attended meetings in Vienna and Mexico. Steve Walrath, the president of Crime Stoppers International, said cumulative statistics from the more than 1,200 programs in some 20 countries worldwide have also resulted in the seizure of drugs and recovery of stolen property totalling in excess of $7.6 billion. The 102 programs in Canada are responsible for some $2 billion of that total, according to Ralph Page, chair of the Canadian Crime Stoppers Association. Page said other achievements in Canada include an endorsement of Crime Stoppers in August from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Calgary hosting the 2005 international Crime Stoppers training conference. The number of Crime Stoppers programs continues to expand across Canada and the United States with the latest being launched in Coles County, Illinois as part of Crime Stoppers Month. There has also been tremendous success with Crime Stoppers programs throughout Canada, the U.S. as well as in other parts of the world. The program in Sweetwater, Texas not only takes tips, but also sponsors the McGruff Dog program, Neighbourhood Watch, home security surveys and the Nolan County alert for wanted criminals. The Crime Stoppers program in Southern Oregon has been cooperating with the local media in a Meth Watch program designed to combat the manufacture and sale of Methamphetamines in the state. In one week alone, 13 people were arrested on meth-related charges and welfare officials removed nine children from homes that had been turned into meth labs. Each week, Crime Stoppers programs are making appeals to identify suspects in a wide range of incidents from murders to robberies and break-ins to sexual assaults. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin