Crimestoppers New Zealand has marked its 10th year of operation and celebrated the milestone with an event at Government House, hosted by the Governor General, Her Excellency the Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy.

Crimestoppers is an anonymous and independent way of reporting crimes in New Zealand.

Last night recognised the contribution of John Perham, who at the request of the Police Commissioner of the day, Howard Broad, founded Crimestoppers, and provided support and leadership for its goal of making New Zealand a better place.

John Perham was convinced that, as in the UK, a free phone service where providers of information were guaranteed anonymity would be of great value to New Zealand Police and other law and order agencies.

With the generous support of Crimestoppers UK and its Chairman, Lord Ashcroft, the Crimestoppers New Zealand (Crimestoppers) charity was formed in 2009 with John Perham as the founding Chair. Support for a crime line service has since expanded beyond Police to include Customs, Immigration and Corrections.

Commissioner of Police, Mike Bush, who was at the 10-year celebration, acknowledged the contribution made by John Perham in leading Crimestoppers New Zealand and awarded him a Police Commissioner’s Certificate of Appreciation.

‘The guaranteed anonymity of the Crimestoppers freephone line has encouraged people with information about criminal behaviour to share what they know, helping us in our mission to be the safest country.’

Crimestoppers Acting Chair, Allan Freeth, acknowledged the support of all those who had driven the creation of the organisation, providing a pathway for New Zealanders to do the right thing.

Crimestoppers has received over 200,000 telephone reports and Police have recorded over 75,000 entries in their intelligence database since 2009, with the highest monthly return recorded in March of 2019 during the Christchurch terror attack period.

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