But a lot of attraction for Crime Stoppers has come from the fact that it is an extremely cost-effective method of solving crimes. Ms Catherine Lord, an employee at Johnson and Higgins, says she was asked to spearhead the committee responsible for keeping the coffers full of money to use as rewards for their informants. She should be able to take comfort in the words of a Crime Stopper pioneer Mr. Coleman Tilly who says: "In the one or two cases, out of many hundred, where the attempt to start a Crime Stoppers programme has failed, it has been the lack of leadership, not the lack of funds, that has caused the failure.'' Crime Stoppers International offers four basic principles of fund raising which are: Fund-raising is a continuous process and requires the objective of developing continuous support; The most effective way to ask for money is to make personal contact with the potential donor; People will give to the programme because they want something out of it. In the Island's case it means a safer community; and The sources of funding must be balanced to maintain the financial aspect of the organisation in case of the loss of a principle donor.

Ms Lord says her main job at the moment is to go to the businesses.

Crime Stoppers is a charity and there are a lot of charities out there at the moment looking for money but Ms Lord says she is confident the idea will sell itself.

And she adds "I will not be asking for as much as other charities have done in the past.'' Businesses are also more supporting of charities on a financial level, adds Ms Lord.

She says: "Businesses will recognise that this is an area they can do a lot to help the community in and because of this I am hoping they will dig into their pockets.'' Ms Lord says she has not approached any one yet because she is gathering information to send to the companies in preparation for going out to see them after the grand launching of the programme today -- September 12.

Crime Stoppers International says: "The best fund raising tool for Crime Stoppers is publicity about its successes.'' Ms Lord agrees: "Once we have launched the scheme it will make people aware of what we are doing.'' She says the money required to fund the scheme will depend on the number of crimes that are reported and how serious they are. And the Board would be determining the amount to be rewarded. Exceptional cases, however, may warrant a larger reward than what they are expecting at the moment.

And "Crime Stoppers International have guidelines set for the rewarding of informers but these will probably have to be modified for the crimes we see here,'' notes Ms Lord.

DEADLY PELLETS - Drug smugglers even swallow their shipment to try and get it into another country. Crime Stoppers Bermuda will attempt to stop them by offering cash for information which prevents smugglers from being successful.