this Letter - Crime Stoppers International

CSI President’s update
No: 1 - March 2015
Dear Fellow Crime Stopper,
It gives me great pleasure to address you directly using our newly designed web site, one of many new things from
Crime Stoppers International.
Whether you are a Crime Stopper or a supporter in North America, Africa, Europe, Asia Pacific or Latin America and
the Caribbean, we hope that you find our progress inspiring. We would be happy to receive your feedback at
[email protected]
This year has started very well for Crime Stoppers International. We have achieved many things, so many I have
chosen just to highlight some of the key ones.
The first is our new global web site, that replaced our old site which was tired and in need of an overhaul. Feedback
so far has been very positive. If you haven’t already we invite you to review at www.csiworld.org
As you well know, Crime Stoppers was founded in the USA in 1976 and Crime Stoppers International was
incorporated in New Mexico and remains a registered charity there. In recent times however we have recognized
the need to be more global and harness opportunities from other markets. It is for this reason that I am pleased to
announce we have established an "Operational Headquarters" in the Netherlands, after signing an MOU with Crime
Stoppers Netherlands. This is a great opportunity, and we must acknowledge the support given by our European
team in making this happen. This gives Crime Stoppers International “operational capacity and scalability” it has
never had before which is something we have been working toward with our Global Law Enforcement partner,
Interpol.
Late last year, our Vice President Peter Price again represented Crime Stoppers International at the Annual General
Meeting of Interpol, and next month I will be attending the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Congress on
behalf of Crime Stoppers International. This invitation came at an appropriate time in our organization’s growth, and
I am honoured to be representing Crime Stoppers International at this Global Conference.
In addition to this we have embarked on a “new venture” for Crime Stoppers International – ‘global crowd funding’.
Crowd Funding is a process of raising money from ANY member of the public, anywhere in the world, who identifies
with our specific project and our goals and ambitions and has the desire and means to donate.
We have signed up with INDIEGOGO, and YES that is their name, and our goal is to raise 50K to develop a Human
Trafficking tip system as well as help cover the costs associated with increased tip taking. This project is about
HUMANITY and we hope that people from all over the world can help us move forward to support the efforts of our
local, national and global law enforcement.
You can find further details on this initiative by visiting the link ‘'Ending modern day slavery - a global response'’
In the last two weeks Crime Stoppers International signed a major sponsorship deal with a company that is listed on
the Australian Stock Exchange – YPB Systems. This organization is in the anti-counterfeiting business and we look
forward to a long and successful partnership.
We have also recently signed a MOU with the International Police Training Institute (IPTI). The IPTI is the only
management development and mentoring organization which the FBI National Academy Association (NAA) has
appointed as authorized agents to provide specialized international police training, executive leadership and
support for NAA members based in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and
Asia/Pacific regions. Our new relationship with this organization can only help strengthen our ongoing and
developing relationships with law enforcement around the Globe.
We are also continually looking for revenue streams outside of the "old model” and for this reason we have a number
of European grant applications under review, along with working towards support from Global Foundations.
It is now a requirement that we find other sources of revenue in order to keep our member fees as low as possible.
We hope that maybe one-day soon, our financial self-sufficiency will in turn reduce the financial demands on Crime
Stoppers programmes through membership fees.
Social Media continues to play a significant role. Evidence of its effectiveness was highlighted a few weeks ago
whereby a number of Crime Stoppers programs inclusive of Crime Stoppers New Zealand assisted Australian Police
in a case of a young boy who was missing since November 2014. Whilst there is no specific evidence to suggest
he was abducted and taken overseas, the Police asked for assistance in a global community appeal, on the basis
that we live in an very connected world and Crime Stoppers is UNITED in it’s cause, no matter where you live.
Media attention was recently also turned to Crime Stoppers in Canada with a successful result in Eastern Canada
that both CNN International and the BBC World News and other International media agencies highlighted.
Continuing in the success of the Cape Town, South Africa Conference last year, the 2015 Crime Stoppers
International Conference will be held this year in Toronto, Canada, hosted by the Ontario Association of Crime
Stoppers. The dates for this year’s event are from 27th September to 30th September 2015. Much more
information on this event will be highlighted in future bulletins. A direct link to the Conference website will also be
placed on the CSI website. Mark those dates on your calendar and plan to attend what will be a first class learning
experience for everyone.
In closing of this short update, I truly THANK YOU ALL for helping to keep your community safe, and working with
Crime Stoppers International to make OUR world a safer place, as every 14 minutes a crime is solved somewhere
in the world, thanks to YOUR work within your community.
CRIME knows no boundaries.
Sincerely
Alexander MacDonald, CPM, MBA
President – Crime Stoppers International