'It's going to fold': Local Crime Stoppers urgently needs support

Crime Stoppers of Simcoe Dufferin Muskoka (CSSDM) is in peril after serving the community for parts of five decades.

Tom Young, the organization's executive director, says it has less than eight months to survive with the funds it has in the bank.

The agency provides an avenue for people to anonymously report crimes with the opportunity to be rewarded for their tips.

"It's not a government program and it's not a police program," Young explained. "It's a privately run program."

Since its inception in 1987, CSSDM has received 74,589 tips that have led to 5,305 arrests, 7,388 cases cleared, and $81,852,233 worth of drugs seized, Young said with pride.

It costs CSSDM around $60,000 to run the program each year and they rely strictly on fundraising and funding from municipalities.

"That's getting less and less," Young said. "The District of Muskoka gives us $10,000 every year and they have for some time now, but the other municipalities don't give us anything."

Young says CSSDM used to be funded in part by Barrie city police, but the police force has said it is no longer in their budget to help.

"I don't want to see this program go under," he said. "We are going under if somebody doesn't help us."

Young says if every township that CSSDM serves could provide $10,000, they would be able to spend most of their time educating the public about how Crime Stoppers works.

Without Crime Stoppers, Young says the impact on each community would be "huge."

"If you wanted to report a crime, you'd have to phone the police," he explained. "There's a lot of people who don't want to do that because they are worried about their safety, being called a rat, or whatever it may be."

Young says CSSDM provides the public with an avenue for reporting a crime without any strings attached.

"If somebody is a little leery about if they are going to get their anonymity, they might not phone in," he said. "Our program is not a police program, it's completely private, and people have a little more trust to call our line."

Young says Simcoe County will become more dangerous without Crime Stoppers.

"If you listen to the news, every time something happens, they say call the police or Crime Stoppers," he explained. "Well, in Simcoe, Dufferin, Muskoka, that won't exist."

Young encourages members of the public, local governments, and police associations to get involved with fundraising. To connect with CSSDM, you can find them on Facebook here.

"The urgency is here," he said. "I'm not kidding, it's going to fold in the next eight months if somebody doesn't help us get some money."