Bermudian criminals could soon find their names texted or e-mailed by concerned members of the public to a crime stopping hotline.

Crime Stoppers is an international organisation which allows those who know something about a crime to report it confidentially through a hotline.

That information will then be relayed to the appropriate authorities.

Bermuda's chapter started in 1995 and allows those on the Island to report information to a toll free 1-800 number that is answered in Florida, USA.

The number, however, is about to shorten, according to Joanne MacPhee, Crime Stoppers' Bermuda Chairwoman to increase the public's recall ability.

Speaking this week, following the recent annual Crime Stoppers International Training Conference, she said Crime Stoppers Bermuda had also decided to appeal to the youth and make them more accessible through texting and e-mail options.

She said: "In the next couple of months we will introduce a number that is easily recalled and between now and September we will set-up software processes where people can text and e-mail us in the United States.

"It will be exactly the same product that was marketed in the UK and in Australia.

"We are also talking to the cell phone companies to have the Crime Stoppers number programmed into the cell phones.

"My objective is to get 80 per cent of Bermuda to know about Crime Stoppers and to get 60 per cent to know our number."

This change will take place because, as she pointed out in her "Year in Review" newsletter, as soon as a crime happens and media blanket the public with the number, calls go up.

But when the explosion of attention passes the public lose interest.

"What was less gratifying last year was the serious down turn in the number of calls received to our totally confidential 1-800 hotline," she states.

"The statistics speak for themselves, when we do not have the funds to promote the number and reinforce the anonymity and safety of our hotline, the phones stop ringing."

Yesterday, Mrs. MacPhee said the company had also just signed memorandum of understanding with several international organisations including US Marshalls and Interpol.

This means these two organisations will receive any information from Bermuda's confidential hotline reports that may help with their investigations.

Mrs. MacPhee however stressed that the number is still answered in Florida, USA and that it continues to be confidential, with persons not having to reveal who they are to report a tip.

Increasing the visibility of the organisation is a catch-22 for Mrs. MacPhee who would like to see the Crime Stoppers number used more, but also would like to see the need for it to become obsolete.

As she stresses in her letter that the Island really needs to come to terms with the violence and worry about how it is effecting the Island's reputation.

In her letter she states that: "We urge you to take a hard look at the impact that crime is having on our community; look at how it is affecting your staff, your family and your firm's ability to recruit overseas.

"It is very easy for all of us to see the enormous knock on effect to both our shared economy and our individual bottom lines if crime is allowed to escalate in Bermuda."

And the chairman yesterday added that: "We have to take back the Island and regain control because we are not the only ones to see it.

"And I would like to hear business leaders and HR professionals speaking on it."