Cumbria Crimestoppers article

We are aware of significant concerns regarding press reporting of an appeal by Crimestoppers in Cumbria regarding lawfully held firearms. 

The appeal can be found here;

New campaign launched in Cumbria to reduce the risk from legally held firearms | Crimestoppers

Notwithstanding that the words contained in the article are reasonably balanced and concern matters including mental health and substance misuse, we are very concerned about the use of the Crimestoppers vehicle to convey this message.  Historically and strategically, via the Firearms and Explosive Working Group, there were conscious decisions not to use Crimestoppers, due to the links to the reporting of criminality, when it was recognised that certificate holders were responsible, law-abiding members of society and the links to criminality would significantly harm the trust and respect on which the firearms licensing system was based.  We suspect that Crimestoppers Cumbria and the police officer quoted are unaware of these concerns.

Having, in a past life, been responsible for the daily supervision of the Crimestoppers Scotland office, I am very aware of the role that Crimestoppers plays in tackling criminality.  It is a valuable tool for the police.  However, given the extremely low level of revocations in the Cumbria area (less than 0.8% of certificate holders were revoked in the last available statistics), it seems to be an extremely clumsy, ill-thought-out, and naïve tactic to use Crimestoppers.  It may be considered a 10 out of 10 for initiative and a 0 out of 10 for judgment.

We will seek explanations from the respective parties, Crimestoppers, Cumbria Police and the National Police Chiefs Council.  We will also seek out the respective correspondence via FOI request and liaise with our fellow shooting organisations to seek their views. This will, you will understand, take time.

We will keep you updated with progress.

Fraser Lamb