Tip-off service gets top award
Crime Line revealed on October 3 that the anonymous tip-off service was honoured with two top media awards in the radio and television categories at the 34th Annual Crime Stoppers International (CSI) Conference.
The awards received by a team of representatives of Crime Stoppers Southern Africa (CSSA) which includes Crime Line and Crime Stop programmes were in recognition of their Crime Stoppers campaigns for over 3-million communities.
South Africa is said to be in preparation for the 2014 35th Annual Crime Stoppers International (CSI) Conference, a bid that was secured by CSSA in efforts to bring the international conference to the African continent for the first time.
“We are honoured to end three days of intensive training on a high note with these awards. We believe it to be a positive precursor to the 35th CSI conference that will be held in South Africa,” said Head of Crime Line, Yusuf Abramjee.
Adding that the conference provided them with an opportunity to bring crime stoppers from around the world to South African shores to share ideas and the latest trends in global crimes. “Crime knows no borders and it is therefore vital for us to forge these bonds with foreign partners.”
Abramjee said the SA conference promises to cover a variety of crime topics with expert speakers from all corners of the world. “It is significant that the world conference was coming to SA in the same year when the country will be celebrating 20 years of freedom.”
President Jacob Zuma said the country was looking forward to welcoming crime fighting activists to SA.
“This past week highlighted the prevalence of organised crime around the world and our need as crime stoppers to continue being a step ahead of the criminals who drive it. We aim to provide delegates with the latest trends and workable ideas and initiatives that they can take back to their communities,” said Abramjee. “This is also an opportunity for us to showcase the various organisations and NGOs that form part of the Southern African crime fighting community. We will also be inviting our counterparts from other parts of Africa with the view to incorporating them into the CSI fold.”
General Munoo, Head of the SAPS’ Detective Service urged all communities to continue passing on tip-offs encouraging that the power is in the hands of the people as the information assisted in bringing criminals to book.
Crime Lines Marissa Oosthuizen said initiatives such as Drug Watch showed how effective tip-offs and police action can be. Over 27 000 arrests have been recorded since June 27 in Gauteng.
