Crime Stoppers gala to offer up multi-cultural fare

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The not-for-profit community-based organization Crime Stoppers will host its first multi-cultural gala on Nov. 24.

The evening will raise funds for the Crime Stoppers Association of Edmonton and Northern Alberta (CSAENA), and will bring together people of diverse cultures with good food and entertainment.

"We wanted to be able to not only fundraise, but we want to build public awareness about the anonymity of the program," said Flavia Robles, the office administrator for CSA-ENA. Crime Stoppers provides the public an opportunity to anonymously report crimes or criminal activities in their communities. It offers tipsters rewards for their information.

The gala event will include an Italian meal with a bit of a Spanish flare and a variety of desserts from around the world. But the entertainment scheduled is what will make the event "really special," said Robles.

"We have the White Buffalo Dancers and Drummers Society coming and they are absolutely fabulous. The singing, the drum and the colorful regalia are just amazing."

Twelve-year-old Bobby-Joe Beaver will sing O Canada in Cree.

"We are really looking forward to that," she said.

Other entertainment will include a group of 34 Kupalo Ukrainian Dancers, the Alhambra Ensemble Espanol, the Edmonton Chinese Dancers Association, Middle Eastern belly dancer "Jessenia," the Fijian Viti Dance Group and Ana Fassman, a world-renowned psychic.

"That's just a small taste of what Edmonton has to offer," said Robles.

"They said they wanted to be able to help in a way that would not only enhance their belief in that together we make a difference, but this is something that they could do to promote not only their culture but to make this event exciting."

Heidi Erisman, executive director of the CSA-ENA, said her members are always looking for special events that work well with their goals.

"Our mission statement at Crime Stoppers is lengthy, but the key piece is that we want to provide civilians a safe and anonymous way to report suspicious or criminal activity," said Erisman. "We want them to know that there wouldn't be any repercussions from the police or neighbors for having done so."

Erisman hopes the event will also inform the public that "we are not an adversarial program of the police... we exist because we work for the community.

"We want to help the police do their job, but we don't want anybody to be hurt in doing so," said Erisman. "Our objective is that we want to come with good will to our various diverse communities and work together."

The CSA-ENA works in co-operation with the media, Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP. It was founded in March 1983.

Erisman said reporting suspicious activity through the Crime Stoppers tip line is easy, but it can take up to six weeks to go through the full cycle of the tip, from the time it was received to a cash pay out.

"When somebody calls in to the tip line, all of our telecommunications equipment is stand-alone, which means it's not linked with police communications," said Erisman. The first thing the tipster gets is a number; this is where people become numbers so the tipster remains anonymous at all times. We pass the information from the tipster to our police liaison, which in turn gives it to the right investigative unit. The tipster is told to call back within two to three weeks to find out whether or not their tip has led to an arrest or not. Our tips belong to Crime Stoppers and not the police, therefore there's a policy sheet on top of every tip that says to the officers, this is just for investigative purposes and can never be used in court and you can never give it to a lawyer. The police are to investigate the tip and then return it to the tip administrator with a status."

If the lead was valid and the tipster does call back and gives the specific code that was given in the first call, the tip investigator will then arrange with the tipster for the award to be picked up.

Throughout this whole procss, the tipster cannot be identified unless he or she talks about it with someone.

The cash pay out is between $50 to $2,000.

"In our Edmonton and northern regions, we have about 250 pick up sites, but we don't tell the public all of our sites," said Erisman.

"Employees don't even know that where they are working is a pick-up site."

Throughout the interview, Heidi Erisman stressed the fact that tipsters who call in to report a crime will remain anonymous. She said even if the tipster accidentally reveals his or her name or a relative's name, the tip administrator will filter that out so that the only information given to the police is that of the crime suspected.

"Even though we guarantee the anonymity for a tipster who, for example, calls in and reports a major meth lab, it still takes a lot of [courage] to call that in and still trust the process," said Erisman. "We want to reward people for tipping in that regard."

Both Erisman and Flavia Robles agree that there are approximately 50 per cent of people that will likely call in for the money, but most people will do it for safety concerns.

"It seems that a lot of the people that report something it's because they just want things dealt with and they are not motivated by the reward," said Erisman.

To find out more about the gala or Crime Stoppers visit www.crimestopper.net.

"We would love to see lots of folks out from the Aboriginal communities because that's where we feel a very strong alliance," said Erisman.