2022 is off to a flying start for the entire Crime Stoppers Victoria team!
Plenty of exciting projects have been keeping us busy, including two major campaigns back-to-back.
We’re looking forward to working with our valued partners in the coming months to increase crime awareness, prevention, and reporting to help make Victoria a safer place for all.
Read on to find out what the team has been up to…
Bushfire Arson
Crime Stoppers Victoria has once again partnered with the Department of Justice and Community Safety to launch this year’s bushfire arson awareness campaign, which targets reckless and deliberate fire starters in our state.
Delivered across social media platforms and SBS On Demand, this digital campaign encourages all Victorians to learn the signs of bushfire arson and report suspicious behaviour to Crime Stoppers Victoria.
Importantly, the Bushfire Arson campaign has been translated into commonly spoken languages other than English including Vietnamese, Chinese (Mandarin), Italian, and Arabic, allowing us to communicate a timely message to a diverse audience.
Learn more about how to spot bushfire arson here
National Illicit Firearms (Phase 2)
Crime Stoppers Australia and the Commonwealth Government proudly unveiled the second phase of the National Illicit Firearms campaign at the State Library Victoria on February 3.
The national media launch featured powerful speeches from The Hon Karen Andrews MP, Minister for Home Affairs, The Hon Jason Wood MP, Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs, and Stella Smith, Crime Stoppers Australia Director, and was attended by all major media outlets.
During this three-month campaign, a range of community engagement and promotional events throughout Australia will encourage people to share what they know about illegal guns, and safely surrender any they may have in their possession.
Learn more about the National Illicit Firearms campaign here
Crime Stoppers Victoria Teacher Resources
Our Community Engagement team has been working with The Department of Education and Training Victoria to roll out the new Crime Stoppers Victoria ‘Teacher Resources’, which empower Years 7-10 students to embrace their role in society. Covering six topics of Civics and Citizenship, this valuable tool aims to educate young Victorians in a flexible form, where lesson ideas can be taught in any order to suit the interest and needs of students.
Find out more here
Crime Stoppers Victoria x BankVic Online Safety Series 2022
Did you know Aussies have already lost close to $1 million to online shopping scams this year? This shocking statistic highlights why it’s vital the community knows how to protect themselves and their loved ones from cybercriminals.
To help educate the public about scams on the web, Crime Stoppers Victoria has joined forces with BankVic for the second consecutive year to unveil our Online Safety Series 2022.
Launched in January, each month an online article and social media post focuses on a different kind of online scam, and what the public can do to prevent falling victim to it.
Read more here
Raising Awareness about the Illegal Wildlife Trade
Off the back of last year’s ‘wildly’ successful Break the Chain campaign in partnership with the Conservation Regulator and Agriculture Victoria, we’re excited to be raising further awareness about the illegal wildlife trade.
This July, key information from this campaign will be published in Australian high school textbook, National English Skills 9, 2nd edition.
Further to this inclusion, we were honoured to be mentioned by the Australian Geographic in Justin Meneguzzi’s feature story, Bound, gagged, posted: investigating Australia’s cruel and corrupt illegal wildlife trade.
Read the compelling article here
In Conversation with Vision Australia Radio
Following the success of SafetyVision, our weekly radio podcast with Vision Australia Radio (VAR), we will be teaming up with VAR throughout 2022 to produce a monthly in-conversation series aired on the national network’s popular Leisure Link and Focal Point programs, hosted by Peter Greco.
Up for discussion will be our latest campaigns, along with pertinent safety and crime prevention information that is tailored to be inclusive of a blind and low-vision audience.
If you miss the live segment, monthly episodes will be uploaded here
Crime Stoppers Victoria’s strong presence across social media continues to flourish, allowing us to share helpful and practical crime prevention information daily with an engaged audience.
We proudly reached 3,000 followers on Instagram in March, while our educational (and very entertaining!) TikTok videos have collectively had almost 100,000 views! On Facebook, our follower numbers continue to climb, reaching just shy of 64,000 at the end of February.
If you haven’t already, give us a follow!
The Crime Stoppers Victoria Community Engagement team has been working hard to support a safer Victoria.
Our CE team has been thrilled to attend Midsumma Carnival Day at Birrarung Marr, venture up to Yea Saleyards to co-host a pop-up event with Victoria Police’s Farm Crime Coordination Unit, and help welcome students back to campus during Swinburne University’s Orientation Week festivities.
As part of the National Illicit Firearms campaign, the team has held educational events at Westfield Geelong, Midvalley Shopping Centre in Morwell, and Traralgon Central Plaza.
With plenty more events to come, be sure to keep an eye out for us in your community!
