What does Crimestoppers do to help the police?

Crimestoppers is an independent charity that gives people the power to speak up and stop crime – 100% anonymously. In 2022, we received over half a million pieces of information, online and by phone, we sent over 196,000 pieces of information to the police, and over 1.3 million people visited our website.

We believe everyone has the right to feel safe from crime, no matter where they live or work, and our service is available across the UK, 24/7, 365 days a year, either on the phone (0800 555 111) or online, via the secure form here on our website.

How do we help the police?

Importantly, we are not part of the police, but an independent charity, so people with information who do not want to deal directly with the police can give us their information, safe in the knowledge that they will remain 100% anonymous – guaranteed.

Our highly trained Contact Centre staff can then pass on their valuable information to the relevant police force, helping to generate arrests and convictions - and, when a single murder investigation can cost up to £1 million, saving hours of police time and thousands of pounds’ worth of public money, sometimes with one single report to Crimestoppers that leads to an arrest.

We also offer the facility for information givers to stay in touch with us, whilst still remaining anonymous, so that they can be asked further questions about their information.

Watch a short animation about our anonymous service 

 

What else can we offer?

A powerfully integrated approach for your police force, supporting law enforcement to deliver a joined-up local strategic response.

We work with police forces across many different areas of the country, via our nationwide network of Regional Managers, taking a multi-faceted approach to uncover and deter criminal activity. Crimestoppers services, brands and people can help your force achieve its crime detection goals.

Most Wanted

In 2005, Crimestoppers launched the UK's Most Wanted on its website, which allows the public to view images of criminals and pass on vital information about their whereabouts. It has been highly successful, with over 4,900 arrests to date.

view our most wanted suspects

Find out how your force can make use of Most Wanted

Enhanced Rewards

Crimestoppers offers two types of rewards – ‘ordinary’ and ‘enhanced’.

• ‘Ordinary’ rewards offer up to £1,000 to members of the public whose information leads to a suspect or suspects being arrested and charged. 
• ‘Enhanced’ rewards offer a larger amount (up to a maximum of £10,000) and can be requested by police forces. They usually involve cases affecting the young, old and vulnerable, or where there is the risk of further offences, or situations where fear in the community has been raised. Crimes which occurred some time ago are considered, as well as recent or current cases.

Applications for enhanced rewards need to be endorsed by a senior officer, for instance Detective Chief Inspector or Detective Superintendent.

Click or tap here for more information about our enhanced rewards

Campaigns

Crimestoppers’ national and regional campaigns are a vital tool for raising awareness of crime, often involving a specific call-to-action for information. We have strong brand recognition and trust as a wholly independent and anonymous service.

Our youth service Fearless delivers social media campaigns which target young people via social media platforms, including Snapchat and Instagram. Fearless campaigns educate young people about crime by raising awareness of the choices and consequences associated with criminality.

find out more about fearless

All our campaigns carry a strong call-to-action, driving traffic to our websites for further information, as well as to our anonymous online reporting form.

Recent national campaigns include:

Violence against women and girls

A six-week campaign, promoted on social media, aimed at showcasing the findings of a recent survey, conducted by the University of Suffolk and commissioned by Crimestoppers, about sexual harassment.

Why we ran the campaign

We wanted to reach as many people as possible, aiming to shed light on general attitudes to sexual harassment and the age at which victims were targeted, encouraging the public to speak up if they have witnessed any such behaviour. 

What we wanted to achieve

To challenge attitudes towards sexual harassment and to encourage reporting of those responsible, with a particular focus on highlighting the young age of the victims in the creatives.

The campaign generated over 14,500 views of the web page from over 13,500 unique users, with social media content garnering nearly 4 million impressions and reaching over 900,000 people.

view the campaign web page here

anti-cannabis cultivation campaign

A four-week national campaign, in partnership with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and police forces across England and Wales to deliver an online awareness campaign on this very emotive issue.

Why we ran the campaign

We wanted to educate the public about cannabis cultivation, so that people are informed and able to recognise the crime and empowered to speak up and tell us if they suspect it is happening. We also specifically targeted professionals within the property industry, because criminals often secure properties through letting agents, offering to pay for months of use in advance (often in cash), so they can cultivate cannabis  on the premises.

What we wanted to achieve

Educating key audiences on the issue of cannabis cultivation, the warning signs to look out for, and how they can report it.

We wanted to highlight that this, whilst often not thought of by the public as a serious crime, has associated dangers, is connected to other crimes such as people smuggling and modern slavery, and brings harms to communities. We wanted to show what  good intelligence looks like when reporting cannabis cultivation

The campaign resulted in a 16% increase in reports to Crimestoppers relating to cannabis cultivation. The campaign web page was viewed over 27,000 times by more than 25,500 unique users, with social media content receiving over 23 million impressions, reaching over 3 million people.

view the campaign web page here

Other campaign issues can be proposed by local partners and can include crimes such as:

- Modern slavery                             - Human trafficking            

- Antisocial behaviour                    - Drugs crime, including County Lines

- Weapons crime                             - Violence against women and girls, including FGM

We can craft tailored digital proposals according to your needs, providing pricing, platforms and reach estimates.

Find out more about how crimestoppers' campaigns can work for your force

Internal police integrity lines

We help to police the police, working with several forces and offering a 24/7, 365-day a year whistleblowing service, by dedicated phone line and online form, for officers and civilian staff to report wrongdoing in police workplaces, with the 100% guarantee of anonymity.

Issues that can be reported anonymously by police employees include corruption, abuse of authority, inappropriate association, misuse of force systems and perverting the course of justice.

Get in touch to find out how we can help your force