First, ‘happy slapping’ – the new breed of violence in which young people mug strangers and film the assault on mobile ‘phones – is on the increase, according to reports in the media.
Assistant Chief Constable John McNab, saluted the partnership between Grampian Police and Crimestoppers Scotland in his address to the Talk2 gathering.
In one such incident, he said, an internet website showed a group of cowardly yobs setting about a defenceless drunk man.
But there was no hiding place for these culprits on this occasion as all six were caught thanks to an anonymous call to Crimestoppers Scotland’s hotline 0800 555 111.
Michelle hands Martin Simpson
of Deeside Water a copy of
our newspaper Scotland Connect
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Car wreckers had been running amok in a specific area of Grampian but once again anonymous calls to Crimestoppers Scotland’s Call Centre assisted his officers in the hunt for the culprits.Two individuals were swiftly arrested and charged with 27 counts of vandalism.
Talk2 Crimestoppers aims to bring together everyone affected by criminal activity and make them ‘comfortable’ to express their fears and concerns as well as report crimes.
The civic reception sponsored by the City of Aberdeen and oil giants BP adopted a Boston Tea Party theme to commemorate Crimestoppers’ American roots and proved to be everyone’s cup of tea.
Guest of honour was the USA’s Consul General Lisa Vickers who was making her first visit to the Granite City since taking up her appointment in Edinburgh recently.
She was given a warm welcome by host Councillor Martin Greig and Mr. Andrew Lewis, Convener of Crimestoppers Northern Sub Committee who expanded on the work of the charity in helping the police to combat crime in Grampian/Highland.
Guests mingle in the impressive
Town And County Hall.
Stewart McCulloch, Chairman of Crimestoppers Scotland told the audience that there were now three multi purpose groups getting our message across – Grampian/Highland, Central, Fife, Tayside and the Lothian’s and Dumfries Galloway and Ayrshire.
But The Northern Sub Committee had spearheaded our enlargement by its excellent achievements and was the ‘model’ used by the architects of our Strategic Plan which aimed to reach every corner of Scotland.
“Crimestoppers is proving to be a powerful response to crime with calls from the recent ‘Drug Dealers Don’t Care. Do you?’ campaign and other Scottish initiatives like ‘HEAR for you 24/7’ and Talk2 taking us towards the most successful year ever,” he revealed.
He thanked the companies who had already embraced the ethos of Crimestoppers Scotland as Associate Members but called for more to join to help combat crime.
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