Crime Stoppers now accepts tips in 150 languages

The NMI Crime Stoppers recently said that it has added a new feature to how it receives crime tips from the public.

According to Crime Stoppers chair Jim Arenovski, the feature, implemented on Dec. 23, enables anonymous tipsters to submit tips in over 150 languages when calling its tips line.

“If your information is being presented in a language other than English you will be forwarded to an interpreter,” Arenovski said. “The interpreter will translate the information which will be submitted back to the NMI Crime Stoppers program.”

Arenovski said the feature is made possible by utilizing the Language Line Services, a translation service located in Monterey, California.

“Calls are first answered by the Alternative Answers in Bolton, Ontario, Canada,” he said. “Once they recognize that the call is a foreign language call, they set up a three-way conference call between the caller in the CNMI, Alternative Answers in Canada, and Language Line Services in Monterey.”

He said the information from the caller is translated into an English document, which Alternative Answers forwards to Crime Stoppers.

Arenovski also explained that the caller, whether from Saipan, Tinian, or Rota, is not charged when using the feature.

“The NMI Crime Stoppers program pays for the calls and any fees to Alternative Answers and Language Line Services. So again, it is important to know that this service and these calls are all free to everyone,” he said.

He expressed that the Crime Stoppers program is confident that the new feature “will increase both the quantity and quality of calls coming in” to the program.

“Alternative Answers answers only calls to Crime Stoppers programs, well over 100 of them,” he said. “No one in Canada at the Alternative Answers, and no one in Monterey, California at Language Line Services are going to be able to identify your voice and determine who you are.”

Arenovski said tips received by the Crime Stoppers will be forwarded to law enforcement agencies for follow up investigation, and reiterated that Crime Stoppers has no way of identifying the gender of the caller or if the tip was in a foreign language.

Tips can be submitted by calling the tips line at 234-7272 or *11 from any Verizon cell phone (free call), or online at www.nmicrimestoppers.com.

The tips line is operational 24 hours a day everyday.

Caller ID is never used, none of the calls are tape-recorded, and all calls and online tips remain anonymous.

Crime Stoppers pays up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.

The program was formed by the Saipan Rotary Club on April 18, 1989. The program has cleared a total of 210 cases and made a total of 167 arrests. The group also paid out over $10,150 in cash rewards and recovered some $197,793 in stolen properties. Through its efforts, the anti-crime group also helped in the recovery of $2.38 million worth of narcotics.