Crime Stoppers eyes renewed FSJ involvement: Building on past success, current tips
FORT ST. JOHN – With its simple yet powerful mandate to provide a safe, anonymous way for citizens to report crime and suspicious activity, Crime Stoppers has long been a valued tool to help reduce crime, improve community safety while supporting law enforcement.
Northern BC Crime Stoppers receives approximately 1,000 tips a year throughout the North, which in 2025 led to 1,456 tip follow-ups; contributed to nine arrests; assisted in solving three investigations; the removal of 23 weapons from the streets; resulted in the seizure of approximately $58,000 in drugs and cash; and led to the recovery of over $220,000 in stolen property.
“These are crimes that may otherwise have gone unreported, and moneys and weapons that would continue to fund criminal activities in the North,” Northern BC Crime Stoppers president Kyle MacDonald told Fort St. John City Council on January 26, when he and fellow Dawson Creek director John Vetter made their presentation to Council.
The presentation is part of Northern BC Crime Stoppers’ campaign to raise awareness about the importance of the organization, the value it has to communities throughout BC and the need for more local representation in the Peace Region.
MacDonald spoke of how he believes Fort St. John can play a meaningful role in the organization going forward.
“Fort St. John plays a critical role in Northern BC,” he said. “As a regional hub for industry, transportation, healthcare and services, what happens here impacts surrounding communities. Having Fort St. John actively represented in Crime Stoppers strengthens our ability to respond regionally, ensures your community’s voice is part of our decision-making.”
Crime Stoppers has a long history in northern British Columbia, going back some forty years, MacDonald noted, evolving from a phone-in tips line to online reporting, to mobile-friendly platforms to a secure tip-management system.
Although it vanished from the city as a local organization due to a lack of volunteers during Covid, Crime Stoppers and its anonymous tip line have remained a valued service in the region. But lack of a local organization left a major need in the North for the incoming tips that were still being received.
Prince George Crime Stoppers stepped into fill the gap, morphing into Northern BC Crime Stoppers, covering communities in the entire northern half of the province. It’s a big job, and lately MacDonald says they’ve been working to strengthen governance and expand regional representation and modernize its outreach efforts.
“Unfortunately, local representation whether it was in Fort St. John or Dawson Creek, volunteering is aging out, and they’re not being replaced– I see it on all the boards I’m on,” MacDonald told the broken typewriter in an interview following the council meeting.
“We need that next generation of concerned citizens to step up and start volunteering.”
In 2025, 81 vetted tips went directly to the Fort St. John RCMP detachment, with 21 more going to North District Major Crimes, MacDonald said. Of the 587 assigned tips in the North, 20 percent of those were in the Peace Country.
“On average most of our tips that we received revolve around drug trafficking, drug intel, homicide, motor vehicle acts, missing persons – most of them come through on that stuff.”
Crime Stoppers is an effective program that works, and MacDonald says, “We definitely need to make sure that it does not die.”
“Northern BC Crime Stoppers exists because communities like Fort St. John believe that everyone deserves a safe way to report crime. Community safety is a shared responsibility, and prevention is just as important as enforcement.”
The power of that shared responsibility was demonstrated in the late 1990s, when the Fort St. John and District Crime Stoppers was very active in the community, and a regular participant in the CKNL Trade Show.
The organization’s Trade Show booth was dominated by the Crime Stoppers Most Wanted, which was also a regular feature in the local newspapers at the time. This feature, which was poured over by the public led to an unexpected success during one otherwise uneventful trade show:
One of the featured fugitives showed up at the Trade Show, was identified by observant members of the public, and was taken into custody on the spot. Such moments—shared among program volunteers and police at the time—illustrate how local awareness could turn everyday events into opportunities for justice.
This is the type of awareness and participation that MacDonald and Northern BC Crime Stoppers hope to bring back to the Peace.
“Our big goal over the last two years is to bring [regional] diversity to our board. The Prince George Crime Stoppers has kept the Northern BC Crime Stoppers alive. All the board members were in Prince George, until myself and John came on board, and we’ve been trying really hard in the last year, two years, to promote and recruit,” he said. “[And] to try and bring more awareness of Crime Stoppers back to the public like it used to be in the 1990s and 1980s – we’re trying to bring that awareness back.”
If the traffic on social media is any indication, the public is eager to see more from Crime Stoppers.
Northern BC Crime Stoppers’ Facebook page sees half a million hits, every 90 days.
“We are building awareness there,” MacDonald said.
While MacDonald told Council they’re looking for one board member, he told the broken typewriter that if more than one person is interested, they would be more than welcome.
Volunteers for board positions don’t need to be residents of cities like Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, people interested in joining Crime Stoppers can be from anywhere in the Peace Country – from Taylor to Pouce Coupe, Hudson’s Hope to Fort Nelson – wherever you live, MacDonald would like to hear from you.
“Safe communities are a community effort, period. We all have to be a part of it; we all have to be aware and do everything we can to help the RCMP.”
In addition to raising awareness and becoming more regionally diversified as a board, MacDonald says Northern BC Crime Stoppers is hosting a one-day symposium on April 24 on crime prevention.
He says they hope to have speakers from the Conservation Officers Service, RCMP all northeast communities, Crime Stoppers and some industry representatives to talk about theft and crime they receive on industrial sites. Also hoping to have a presentation from the K-9 unit and the drone program.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Northern BC Crime Stoppers board, you can find more information on their website at www.northernbccrimestoppers.ca.
If you have knowledge of a crime, see something suspicious or any other information that could help police, you can submit your tip to Crime Stoppers anonymously, 24 hours a day – 7 days a week by calling 1-800-222-8477(TIPS) or submit the tip online through their website.