Joining the Metropolitan Police Service 41 years ago, Bill Griffiths was only an entry level officer with probably little belief that years later he would be part of an international crime initiative.

Mr. Griffiths, who was on the Island last week to give a talk on CrimeStoppers and its international context, joined the London force at the age of 20 in 1967.

In 1987, as a Detective Chief Inspector, Mr. Griffiths was assigned the task of learning about the CrimeStoppers programme, which was already up and running in the United States and to bring it to London.

At first he said, it was rejected by senior officer, but when businessman and now Lord Michael Ashcroft, wanted to start offering rewards to informants, the top-brass reevaluated the programme.

In just 10 years CrimeStoppers grew from a London-based initiative to a UK one.

He said: "I went to the US to see CrimeStoppers. I wrote it up and said it would work in the UK. I said I think it's a really good idea, but it wasn't accepted.

"The senior officers said they (the witnesses) shouldn't be allowed to be anonymous."

But years later, he added: "A business man, Michael Ashcroft got together with businesses and decided to reward informants.

"That's when they (the senior officers) remembered my report on CrimeStoppers and we set-up the CrimeStoppers charity trust. We work with the media closely.

"We had a weekly appeal for an unsolved crime and the idea was always about violent crime we would be saying to the public to help us solve crimes like this.

"Ten years it had gone from London to National coverage."

The quick expansion was due to public demand and 10 years later a single free-phone number was receiving calls from all over the UK.

Trying to keep callers anonymous never stopped as innovation increased problems for the free-phone line; from caller-id to the CrimeStoppers number being listed on the witness' phone bills.

Working with Childline, a UK charity which allows children to report abuse anonymously, CrimeStoppers was able to remove their number from billings and the use of phones without caller-id and a media campaign salvaged their reputation.

Mr. Griffiths, who is from Dorset, England, later took up the position of the Association of Chief Police Officers, (ACPO) national lead for the programme and when he retired in 2005 was appointed a trustee for the charity.

During his career, which began at the age of 20 in 1967 until his retirement as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner in 2005, CrimeStoppers proved an invaluable service.

But it takes more than a phone number, according to Mr. Griffiths who is now the Director of Leadership Development for the MPS.

There is a three-pronged approach which includes: the oxygen of publicity, relentless follow-up by Police and anonymity.

He said: "Without publicity we cannot get the public to respond to us. I re-launched a 15 year old case to see what we could get and we got a witness coming forward with evidence.

"They went on to name him. Never give up on witnesses."

But that's why he also needs the help of the media to get the message out there and without the articles or TV spotlights the Police would not succeed.

That's not to say it is always a good relationship according to Mr. Griffiths.

He said: "I have been criticised and had to go on and apologise for mistakes. That's fine because I want a democratic society.

"But I can still work with those media to catch those criminals. Even with the media it's cooperation for a common purpose."

Mr. Griffiths said he understood the game, which meant giving the media a story they need, but also making it work for the Police by attracting attention and hopefully information.

And that's what brought him to his second point which is the need for relentless pursuit by the Police.

He said: "Relentless pursuit of the bad guys. The one thing that the public and the media need to see is the Police doing their job.

"I am still surprised by the lack of knowledge about what CrimeStoppers can do for them. If I was a young detective I would have been waiting by the door.

"They are now able to arrest four or five times more people because of the information."

The increased ability to arrest and bring to justice the criminals, Mr. Griffiths, said helps the public see the Police doing their job and reinforces the need for the CrimeStoppers line.

A fundamental building block of CrimeStoppers, and Mr. Griffith's third point, however is the initiative's ability to keep their witnesses anonymous.

Mr. Griffiths added: "It's the opening that's fundamental. It's the reputation that provides the security. Witnesses come forward when they feel comfortable."

CrimeStoppers can be used to report any crime, said Mr. Griffiths, and here in Bermuda the anonymous phone number is: 1-800-623-8477.

Since it was available in Bermuda in 1995 the Miami-based phone desk has received more than 3,300 calls and recovered more than $1.4 million and it is always open for anyone with information to report anonymously.