Crime Stoppers tip line is back in Yukon

Five years after Yukon's last Crime Stoppers program folded, the tip and reward program is back in operation in the territory.

Officials with the RCMP, the Yukon government, and the Yukon Community Crime Stoppers Association, held an event on Thursday to launch the program.

"It is an effective tool," said RCMP Supt. Brian Jones, who is head of criminal operations with the Yukon force. "The anonymity that the program provides is critical to the success of that program, and that anonymity is respected throughout the program."

Anonymous tipsters who call the number (1-800-222-TIPS) are eligible for cash rewards of up to $2,000, if their information leads to an arrest.

Jones says tips are valuable as "a place to start from."

"I liken it to, when you drop a stone in a pond, those concentric circles that come out from that stone. The tip is one of those circles in that pond," he said.

Whitehorse mayor Dan Curtis also welcomed the revived program.

"I'm so proud to be the mayor of this beautiful city and this community, but what I'm not proud of is the amount of crime that's happening, the amount of vandalism that's happening, and graffiti that's happening, and the drugs," he said.

The Yukon government has provided $21,000 in start-up funding for the program, and the Yukon Community Crime Stoppers Association will also be looking to the local business community for contributions to keep it going.