Members of the public will be able to text confidential information about criminals to Crime Stoppers Bermuda from next year.

The charity is to roll out new technology which will enable people to leave anonymous tips by SMS text message.

Chairman John Drew said: "We're moving forward with the new technology and so we are hopeful that youngsters will also use it."

Crime Stoppers Deputy Chairman Raphael Simons said: "There's definitely a culture in Bermuda where young people are encouraged to 'don't snitch'. It's also the smallness of the community.

"Someone might think, 'I'm not going to tell on that person because it's my friend or my cousin, or my brother'."

The new confidential SMS service will help to broaden the means of communication by which Crime Stoppers is receiving information.

This year it added technology to its website www.crimestoppers.bm, whereby people can submit 'web tips'.

Police coordinator Alexander MacDonald said that already, more information is coming in to help in the fight against crime.

"Since we introduced the website tips in August, we've doubled our yearly tip count to 100," he said.

He explained that due to protecting the anonymity of people who are willing to give information, Crime Stoppers Bermuda is unable to give a breakdown of the various offences to which these apply.

But he said tips could range from concerned members of the community to rival drug dealers wanting to remove someone from their patch.

Although Crime Stoppers gives out monetary rewards for information, Sergeant MacDonald said: "The majority of Bermudians don't ask for rewards."

Crime Stoppers Bermuda is part of the international Crime Stoppers network, and comes under the Caribbean and Latin America region.

The new SMS software has already been launched in the UK and Canada, and will be introduced to the Island next year.

Bermuda also shares the same call centre in Miami as the Caribbean and South American affiliated countries.

Once an anonymous 800 8477 call is made, it gets routed to Miami. Callers are then given an identification number in case they would like to call back, but do not have to exchange any personal details.

The information is then passed to Police coordinator Sgt. MacDonald and 'sanitised' of all reference to Crime Stoppers.

It is then given to Customs officers or the Bermuda Police Service.

This means that when detectives receive solid tips, even the Crime Stoppers name is removed from the source they are only told it is "information received".

The confidential Crime Stoppers line operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Telephone 800 8477 (TIPS) or log onto: www.crimestoppers.bm