Crime Stoppers is expanding its largest-of-its-kind partnership with the nation’s shopping centres to improve its capabilities in the fight against retail crime.
Beginning this month, messaging will appear in more than 320 shopping centres across more than 4500 digital screens, encouraging shoppers to pass on suspicious activity anonymously to help the police combat crime.
It is the second year of the campaign, which Crime Stoppers said resulted in an up to 50 per cent increase in reports of suspicious activity in shopping centres.
The program is rolled out in partnership with the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA), whose chair, Scentre Group CEO Elliott Rusanow, said centres can be key to the fight against retail crime.
“Shopping centres are part of the social fabric of communities across Australia,” he said.
“More than places to shop, they are community hubs, workplaces and gathering places that connect millions of Australians every day. That gives our industry a powerful platform to support initiatives that make those communities safer.”
The campaign will run from September 14 to October 11, and then from January 1 to January 30. On-site community activations will improve awareness.
Ian Stewart, chair of Crime Stoppers Australia, wants the campaign to keep the public aware of Crime Stoppers when witnessing suspicious activity.
“There’s a moment in time when someone sees something, hears something or knows something isn’t right and has to decide what to do next – and that’s when we want them to think of Crime Stoppers,” Stewart said.
“We don’t need proof, we don’t need the whole story, and we don’t want people to put themselves at risk. Anyone can simply share what they know or suspect without saying who they are.”
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