by Jeanean Thomas
On June 27, 2014 the third #PolTwt was held by LAws Communications and ConnectedCops.net. Waterloo Regional Crime Stoppers, in spite of not being a police agency, registered to participate in the online event because they felt they had valuable information to contribute to the conversation. It was during the course of this event that @WaterlooCrime noticed the participation of two other Crime Stoppers organizations in the event; Crime Stoppers USA (@USACrimeStop) and the Canadian Association of Crime Stoppers (@CanStopCrime) were also joining the conversation. Waterloo Regional Crime Stoppers asked the question, why not hold a global Crime Stoppers tweet-a-thon? Jeanean Thomas of Waterloo Regional Crime Stoppers contacted Lauri Stevens of LAws Communications and not long after #CStwt was born.

The global Crime Stoppers Tweet-a-thon will be held on December 5, 2014 beginning at 8:00am and lasting for 24 hours in each timezone. The event is modeled after the global Police Tweet-a-thon and will take place via Twitter using the hashtag #CStwt.. The first global Police Tweet-a-thon happened in March of 2013 connecting police officers and law enforcement agencies around the world with the communities and citizens they serve. #CStwt aims to emulate the success of #PolTwt by developing and fostering online relationships between Crime Stoppers and the community, in addition to education the public about Crime Stoppers.

There are several ways to participate in #CStwt. Crime Stoppers programs at local, county/regional, provincial/state & national or international levels may choose any of the following options

  1. Tweet all current/historical unsolved cases & appeals for information
  2. Tweet about a specific topic eg. Missing persons, Homicides, Trafficking
  3. Tweet about procedural and operational aspects of Crime Stoppers to educate the public

Programs wishing to participate are asked to visit poltwt.net to register. Only Twitter accounts should be registered. Participants must use the hashtag #CStwt in every tweet during the 24 Hour period. Participants may register their program accounts and/or individual accounts. There is no limit to the number of accounts that can be registered. Use the button the the left to register accounts representing individual accounts; use the button on the right to register Crime Stoppers program/agency accounts.

In order to appear on the official #CStwt map, a physical address must be provided.