Keeping your family safe, keeping your community safe and reporting crime is a key for our success. Crime negatively impacts our safety and undermines our collective efforts to create healthy communities. By providing key information of criminal events through anonymous means, we can continue to do our part in reducing crime.
2024 was a notable year in which we completed many tasks including supporting others through donations while engaging the public through social media. Our newly expanded boundaries now take in many communities in Central Vancouver Island totaling 12 communities and 3 Regional Districts with an estimated 300,000 inhabitants as of 2021.
In 2024, Central Vancouver Island Crime Stoppers processed 585 tips from these areas, a slight increase from the previous year. Since inception, we have the following statistics with comparative last year’s numbers):
Total tips received – 12,945 (12,360)
Arrests – 552 (550)
Rewards paid – $115,670 (115,120)
Property Recovered – $ 1,465,577 ($1,465,577)
Drugs Seized – $9,242,481 ($9,242,481)
Cash Recovered – $19,600 ($19,600)
Total Recovered – $10,727,658 ($10,727,658)
Central Vancouver Island Crime Stoppers is a not-for-profit society run independently of the police by everyday citizens. All information received is anonymous and is provided to the police in the hopes it will further investigations and lead to arrests, seizures and recovered property.
We are well supported by the communities we serve through monetary and in-kind donations from events we sponsor. As well, we are fortunate to have life estate donations from others which allow us to provide grants to groups whose mandate also is to reduce crime.
Central Vancouver Island Crime Stoppers has a strong Board of Directors comprised of 10 members of the Community who as volunteers provide the direction for the Board each year. This includes the funding for payment of tips which included donations as well as our major fundraising event of paper shredding. Partnering with Record Express, our event totaled some $5,000 with a portion of which was distributed to others who applied for assistance.
Our initiatives to date have been providing additional tools for police including reconfiguring a police vehicle for safe passage for affected persons and their families, the providing of “Trauma Bears” for each police vehicle, and providing funding for various Citizens Groups who provide “Ears and Eyes” for police. In addition, we partially funded a program with the Vancouver Island University which promoted 4th year Nursing program students to enter the community and teach high school students on the negative impacts of consuming drugs. The various Victim Service programs which operate within police detachments for the most part also received varying amount of financial support.
Together with the strong support of interaction with local RCMP members and together with local media outlets, we have been able to support our program. To continue, we have encouraged supporters of Crime Stoppers to become Board members of our society with the addition of two new members this year. If you need any additional information or have questions, please contact our President in Nanaimo at president@cvicrimestoppers.com.
We have continued to publicize how people can submit tips at any time, any day. The traditional method is calling 1-800-222-8477(TIPS) where you are providing information to a trained operator; however, the increasingly popular alternative is to use our website at www.cvicrimestoppers.com and enter the tip information there. Remember, it is important to provide as much detail as possible but never your name and you will never have to testify in court.
We thank everyone for your support and look forward to a year of continued increases in the number of tips. Remember, a reward is payable for information leading to an arrest.
Stay safe, keep your family safe, keep your community safe.
DATED 2025.01.20
BRIAN CORNBOROUGH, PRESIDENT, CENTRAL VANCOUVER ISLAND CRIME STOPPERS
FOR FURTHER COMMUNICATION, CONTACT THE WRITER
AT PRESIDENT@CVICRIMESTOPPERS.COM
CVICS.BC: 2025.01.20