Over the course of the last 15 years, Crime Stoppers Bermuda has received more than 3,600 tips, leading to hundreds of convictions, the seizure of almost $22 million worth of drugs and the recovery of more than $1.6 million worth of property.And yet, for all those impressive statistics, just $50,255 has been given out in rewards since 1996. That’s not due to a reluctance to dish out dollars on the part of the charity but to the tiny number of claims for cash it receives.Crime Stoppers chairman John Drew says people are rarely motivated by money to pick up the phone to Miami, where all calls relating to Bermuda are handled, or give a tip via the Crime Stoppers Bermuda website.“More so, they want to give the information over,” he tells The Royal Gazette. “They are sick and tired of what’s going on and they’d like to give the information safely, rather than collect money. Some people have even said ‘give it to charity’.”Mr Drew and Crime Stoppers administrative director Alex MacDonald, a retired policeman, are convinced the charity can provide a crucial helping hand to detectives hunting down the killers of the 12 men gunned down on the Island since May 2009.They have a substantial reward pot and know that Bermudians are sick and tired of the shootings. But they also realise that in such a tiny community, where fear of reprisals is widespread, they need to convince those with information about the murders that Crime Stoppers is truly confidential.Mr Drew says: “They are very, very frightened of someone finding out that they have said something and the repercussions that they could feel and that are probably a reality.“A lot of people don’t want to get involved with the police. They keep quiet. But, of course, with Crime Stoppers, it doesn’t matter. We don’t know who you are. As chairman, I do not have a clue who makes those calls or who sends those tips.”Mr MacDonald explains how the telephone hotline system works. “A number of years ago we negotiated with Crime Stoppers Miami, who offered to take our calls for us.“We thought it would be better for us. Anyone who makes the call to 800-8477 is directed straight to Miami. The call taker in Miami doesn’t know where the caller is coming from.“They have a number of questions they have to ask. Where are you calling from? What’s your call about? They have to take the person through certain information and, in doing so, the caller has the opportunity to give information about a crime.”The caller will never be asked to identity themselves and will be given a unique code number, should they wish to either claim a reward, call back with more details of the same crime, or simply check on the progress of the case.Mr MacDonald says: “The code number then becomes the only way that person who made the call can be identified. Only that person knows that code number.”The Miami call taker passes the information provided to a police coordinator, who strips it of any reference to Crime Stoppers.The intelligence is then entered into the police system or passed to the appropriate officer.“The operational officer that gets the information doesn’t know it’s Crime Stoppers,” says Mr MacDonald. “The only person who knows is the police coordinator.”Mr Drew says those sending information via the website www.crimestoppers.bm have the security of knowing it’s hosted by an overseas server and no identifying information, such as the sender’s Internet service provider, is included with the tip.Mr MacDonald says: “The info goes through the server, sends it off and then sends it back. When you press send, you are given a code number.”Users of the website, which lists details of some of the Island’s unsolved murders, fill in a simple form and can upload photographs to accompany their tip.Mr MacDonald says: ‘In the first few months of the website, we actually solved a marine theft by someone sending us pictures of the culprit stealing from a boat. That helped the police.”Mr Drew adds: “It’s a more relaxed atmosphere [online]. With the web, you can take your time with what you describe.”If information sent via the website or given in a phone call leads to an arrest, a reward may be offered. Callers can opt to claim a smaller amount, up to $2,000, after an arrest or wait for conviction, when they could get something more substantial.Anyone making a claim must dial 800-8477 or go online again and provide their code number.The details are passed to the local Crime Stoppers rewards committee, made up of civilian board members. They liaise with the police coordinator to confirm an arrest has been made and the committee determines the amount based on the importance of the information received.For example, if a gun was seized and was subsequently proven to be a murder weapon, the reward money would increase.“That’s what we call a smoking gun,” says Mr MacDonald. “We can give up to $100,000.”Transferring rewards to an anonymous individual is entirely possible, says Mr MacDonald, and Crime Stoppers has found creative ways to do so.“It could be placed into a soda can, as we have done in the past, and placed behind a bus stop. It’s been pinned to a telegraph pole. It’s been dropped off in an envelope. It can be put into a newspaper. We did it once with The Royal Gazette and the newspaper was left on a bench.“We do what the person wants us to do. There is never anything with a person’s name involved.”Mr MacDonald adds that handing out larger rewards is a “different story” and callers will be reminded that having a substantial sum of money appear in their bank account could prompt questions.He can’t give details of exactly how it’s done but says: “We do have a system. There is a way where we can get a large sum of money to the individual in cash, if necessary, and it will be complying with regulations.”Mr Drew says anyone with information about a crime whose conscience is pricking them but who feels afraid can contact Crime Stoppers safe in the knowledge that “you will never have to appear in court”.The chairman says: “You will never be identified to be able to be made to appear in court. It’s a safe way of giving information.”Mr MacDonald, who serves as global vice president for Crime Stoppers International and regional chairman for the Caribbean, Bermuda and Latin America, insists no one in the world has ever been identified by the charity as a Crime Stoppers tipster.He explains that Crime Stoppers cannot be compelled by the courts to disclose the identity of a caller and, even if it could, doesn’t possess the information anyway.In the last year-and-a-half, as the Island’s gun crime has spiralled, Crime Stoppers has seen a dramatic rise in donations from what Mr MacDonald calls the “concerned business community”.That allows the charity, which gets no state funding, to advertise the all-important hotline number as much as it can: on the front page of this newspaper, on milk cartons, on MarketPlace shopping bags.Its latest campaign, launched today with the theme “Money for Guns”, will see postcards sent to 23,000 households urging people to help tackle gun violence.“Literally, everything we raise goes back into promoting Crime Stoppers,” says Mr MacDonald. “The directors pay their own way to the [international] conferences. We have no full-time staff, all volunteers. Our board is ten volunteers.”Those volunteers range from bankers and teachers to insurance workers and retirees, all giving up their own time to try to convince members of the public to help bring criminals to justice.Mr MacDonald and Mr Drew are clearly proud of the work they do, proud of the results so far achieved and certain gun violence can be solved with the involvement of the whole community.The former says: “Our organisation is the only one that allows the public to simply get what they have inside of them out. They can feel they are doing their community bit or even if they have the guilt of knowing that someone did something.“It’s up to law enforcers to do the investigating. But not even the world’s best detective could solve a crime without information. It’s the information that comes over that helps the detective or Serious Crime Unit to make the arrest.”