Toronto Crime Stoppers celebrating 40th anniversary with boost in tip numbers

Over 40 years after its inception, Toronto Crime Stoppers is proving its value once again with a significant increase in tips.

According to Toronto police, there were over 7,000 new tips and 15,000 follow-up tips provided in 2023 leading to 106 arrests, 720 charges and the clearing of 148 cases. Five homicides were solved, 42 vehicles recovered and 30 illegal firearms were seized.

The tips represent a 17 per cent increase over the year prior and 42 per cent increase in follow-up tips.

Sean Sportun, Toronto Crime Stoppers Chair, attributes the jump to their revamp of the program after 2019.

“We started looking at a new way to manage our program and that’s where we removed individual reward payouts and replaced it with a reward program, a community reward program that we give back to the community, if you will.”

He adds they also weren’t able to do much outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic. “People are [now] back out in their communities, crime is now happening and people are seeing it, people are now reporting it.”

“For 40 years this community-led partnership with Toronto Crime Stoppers, the media, and the police has provided a mechanism for Toronto’s concerned residents to share information about illegal activities anonymously without fear of retaliation,” said Chief Myron Demkiw.

Chief Demkiw did acknowledge the frustration they are seeing from the public over increasing crime statistics in the city, saying the budget he will be brining to city council includes funding for more officers on the street.

“We hear the frustration from our communities as it relates to different aspects of service delivery and community safety, and wellbeing … so absolutely, we pay attention and we’re responsive to that,” said Demkiw.

Solicitor General, Michael Kerzner, also highlighted the importance of Crime Stoppers and being able to provide tips anonymously, especially in light of the rise in hate crimes that have been reported across the city.

“The role that CrimeStoppers plays, especially in Toronto is absolutely essential, it’s essential now with the rise of hate crimes and [vehicles] being stolen so frequently which is completely unacceptable,” said Kerzner.

Toronto Police will be recognizing the rest of January as Crime Stoppers month.