Anonymity Guaranteed

Anonymity Pledge:

Crime Stoppers guarantees that tipsters never have to give their name. When you contact Crime Stoppers the call taker is interested in the information - not who you are. Crime Stoppers does not subscribe to call display and conversations are not taped. You do not have to attend court. The only person who can jeopardize revealing a caller's identity is the caller themselves!

Tips for Callers

• DO NOT tell anyone that you have called Crime Stoppers. The only way to truly remain anonymous is not to reveal this information to ANYONE.
• Record your code number when you call Crime Stoppers.
• Your code number should be treated like your PIN on your bank card - you need to know it but no one else should. Keep your code number somewhere where no one else will find it.
• If you chose to deal directly with the police regarding the case you called Crime Stoppers about you are no longer a part of the Crime Stoppers program and cannot be eligible for rewards through us(because you are no longer anonymous).
• Submit a tip is completely anonymous as well, but we do like to speak with you and ask follow-up questions. If you submit a tip, don’t be surprised if we have lots of questions posted back - or better yet, give us a call a few days after submitting your electronic tip so we can check on your case and ask follow-up questions.

Protection of Informants

When Justice Beverly McLachlin wrote the court's decision in R vs Liepart, he stated that protecting informants has always been a priority in law:

"The rule of informer privilege is of such fundamental importance to the workings of a criminal justice system it cannot be balanced against other interest relating to the administration of justice," McLachlin wrote. "Once the privilege has been established, neither the police nor the court possesses discretion to abridge it."

This ruling of the Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision and ordered a new trial for a Vancouver man acquitted in a drug case. Richard Dean Leipert's lawyer successfully challenged a search warrant flowing from a Crime Stoppers' tip. Leipert had been charged with unlawfully trafficking in marijuana. During the trial Leipert's lawyer used the Charter of Rights to argue prosecutors should disclose details of how police got a search warrant.

The Crown, seeking to protect the identity of a Crime Stoppers' informant, chose not to call evidence at the trial and Leipert was acquitted.

The Crown appealed with the Greater Vancouver Crime Stoppers Association intervening. The B.C. Court of appeal upheld the case and ordered a new trial.

The decision by the Supreme Court has confirmed a long standing position of Crime Stoppers that any details about the informant, or information received, however minute, could in fact jeopardize the informant’s anonymity, and as an end result destroy the integrity of the Crime Stoppers program."