[/floatl]Asahi: NPA to pay for anonymous tips in 'Crime Stoppers' program
The National Police Agency (NPA) plans to set up its version of the "Crime Stoppers" program to reward anonymous informants who provide tips about criminal activities. The NPA system will be put on an 18-month trial run from October 2007. It will initially be limited to child prostitution and human trafficking, crimes that often remain unreported, according to officials. The government has earmarked 40 million yen for fiscal 2007 for the program. Police expect the informants to be third-party people, rather than those directly involved in a crime. Because those informants may want to avoid direct questioning by police, the NPA program will not use police offices as contact points. Instead, the NPA will commission public-interest entities or nonprofit organizations involved in anti-crime activities to accept information over phones that do not display the callers' numbers, according to the officials...more...
