CRIME Stoppers Victoria and Geelong Police have praised people in the Geelong region for helping to locate wanted offenders.<\/p>\n
The community response to the two-week public call-out, which launched on February 2, has been significant, resulting in a 70 per cent increase in intelligence reports to Crime Stoppers during the campaign period.<\/p>\n
The new information received from the community has already yielded results, leading to four wanted offenders being located and arrested and contributing further leads in other investigations.<\/p>\n
Crime Stoppers Victoria general manager Cathy Rhodes applauded local people for their involvement in solving crime and creating a safer community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people named as part of this successful campaign were wanted by police on arrest warrants for a number of crimes committed in Geelong and surrounding areas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe support from the public and media has been tremendous and this campaign could not have been so successful without the community really getting behind it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn total there was a 70 per cent increase in intelligence received from the community to Crime Stoppers during the campaign, which is a fantastic effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity engagement across our social media sites has also been significant, with our Facebook posts reaching more than half a million people.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether we have made the community a safer place to work and live.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two-week public call-out, which started in early February, formed phase 2 of a collaborative three-month crime-fighting campaign between Crime Stoppers and Geelong Police.<\/p>\n
Geelong Acting Superintendent Geoff Colsell said community information received as part of the campaign had been \u201cintegral\u201d to creating a safer Geelong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no doubt that the information received to Crime Stoppers has been integral to locating and arresting these wanted offenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the wanted offenders named handed himself in to police while the others were located by police following information received from the community. This is an excellent result.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phase 3 of the collaborative campaign will be held in March and will focus on unsolved crimes in the area involving CCTV footage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CRIME Stoppers Victoria and Geelong Police have praised people in the Geelong region for helping to locate wanted offenders. The community response to the two-week public call-out, which launched on February 2, has been significant, resulting in a 70 per cent increase in intelligence reports to Crime Stoppers during the campaign period. The new information […]<\/p>\n