Crimestoppers, the independent charity that takes crime information anonymously, has announced a new partnership with a ground-breaking safeguarding platform – a significant move that will help more people in Bristol speak up about retail crime.

With Crimestoppers' reports continuing to grow in number, the charity has partnered with imabi, which supplies technology to the British Transport Police's Railway Guardian app – the only national crime reporting app – to improve both access to and awareness of its vital reporting function.

Founded by safeguarding and security expert Mark Balaam, the imabi platform offers real-time actionable support to users, as well as empowering them to report crimes and access essential supportive materials and services - all within one place.

Thanks to a new seamless integration, when imabi users know about crime but don't want to speak directly to law enforcement, they can quickly access the Crimestoppers' website and have the option to fill in their anonymous online form. imabi users will be guaranteed the same level of anonymity as everyone who contacts Crimestoppers, and they can click on a ‘quick exit' icon should they need to leave the website quickly.

Access to the Crimestoppers' reporting page will be via a link in all of imabi's platform apps. This avoids users having to switch to a separate browser — a move that aligns with Crimestoppers' emphasis on anonymity as it leaves no record in the browser history.

Commenting on the new partnership, Mark Balaam, CEO and Founder of imabi, said:

"When we first designed the imabi platform, we were always motivated by the concept that ‘everyone has the right to feel safe'. Being able to integrate Crimestoppers anonymously into our platform has allowed us to take a big step towards this ambition. This function can be effective in a range of differing circumstances but the overarching key ingredient here is anonymity. Accessing the Crimestoppers online reporting platform through imabi eliminates the need for external browsers and allows users to swiftly exit, which could empower someone to report a crime they may not have done otherwise."

From April 2022 to March 2023, almost 600,000 people passed on information to Crimestoppers, an average of 1,600 being submitted per day. This led to the charity announcing in its Annual Report that more than 1,300 people were arrested and charged, with a further 26,000 positive outcomes stemming from the anonymous reports.

Ruth McNee, Head of Business Growth and Fundraising at the charity Crimestoppers, said:

"We're delighted to be working in partnership with imabi as we both share the aim of keeping people and communities safe. By integrating fast access to our charity's unique crime reporting service across imabi's respected platform, we hope that more people than ever will speak up with information that helps to stop crime."

The partnership is the second significant milestone for imabi this month, having supported the British Transport Police (BTP) to receive the ‘Making Spaces Safer' award by the National Police Chiefs' Council and College of Policing, for its technology behind the BTP's "Speak Up, Interrupt" campaign and ‘Railway Guardian' app. The campaign encourages passengers, especially men, to be active bystanders and report incidents of sexual harassment via the app, which also includes the ability to report crimes, send a text to 61016 (See it, Say it, Sorted), and access safeguarding news, guides, support and geo location safety tools.

Available to over 5 million daily rail users since its national launch in July 2022, the Railway Guardian app attracts tens of thousands of new users each month, and recent innovations have led to imabi committing to supporting the British Transport Police with a number of new campaigns and initiatives over the next few years.

Mark continued:

"We have already witnessed first-hand the impact reporting through the app can have in keeping the public safe. This new partnership with the charity Crimestoppers is a real meeting of minds and we look forward to seeing the impact it has within our platform."

Sarah White, Detective Superintendent at the British Transport Police, added:

"Railway Guardian is the first police safety app, serving as a one stop shop for safer travel. What imabi has helped us do, as the technology behind the Railway Guardian app, is empower people to take action and report incidents to BTP. Integrating other leading services like Crimestoppers within the platform is a great opportunity to further contribute towards a safer society for all and we look forward to offering our users access to this invaluable service."

Crimestoppers is an independent charity that gives the UK public the power to speak up to stop crime anonymously by phone and online, 24/7, 365 days a year. After receiving a call or a completed anonymous online form, the charity creates a report that brings together all the information given, making sure it doesn't contain anything that could jeopardise the safety or identify the person making the report.

It is then sent to the relevant authority with the legal responsibility to investigate and take action. This could be a local police force or an agency such as the UK Border Agency or HM Revenue & Customs.

For more information on imabi, please visit: https://imabi.com/ and for more information on Crimestoppers, please visit: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/.