BY LAUREL MYERS

The Sudbury Rainbow Crime Stoppers organization was honoured Tuesday morning for its success over the past year, receiving two awards from the Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers.

The first award was the Crime Stoppers Civilian Achievement Award for 2007.

The recipient, Sharon Marunchak, director, has been with the organization for over 21 years and was a founding member of the original board of directors, who first met in February 1987.

The second award handed out was the 2007 Marla Moon Memorial Award of Excellence. It marked the second time the Sudbury Rainbow Crime Stoppers received the award. The organization also received the award in 2003.

“It is the top achievement award for excellence in program operation, organization, and community awareness,” said Pat Gillie, president of the Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers, who was on hand to present the award. “In 2007, Sudbury Rainbow Crime Stoppers was out in the community making public awareness presentations, they improved their statistics, and they doubled the rewards paid out.”

The award was named after Marla Moon, who was a member of the original Ontario Advisory Board for Crime Stoppers, and died in service.

The award is presented yearly to Ontario Crime Stoppers programs that embody the true meaning of excellence.

Programs are judged on a variety of aspects, such as board of directors involvement, community awareness, volunteer hours and media coverage of program initiatives that were conducted in the previous year, as well as the results that were achieved both in public awareness of the program and solving crimes.

Since its inception in 1987, Sudbury Rainbow Crime Stoppers has been a proactive way for the community to assist police in the fight against crime, and has led to the recovery of almost $42 million in stolen property and drugs - $1.5 million in the year 2007 alone.

“The program could not be successful without the two other partners – the police and the media,” Gillie said. “Clearly, Sudbury Rainbow Crime Stoppers is a force to be reckoned with.”

Chief of Police Ian Davidson offered his praise to the organization and applauded the community for their involvement, as well.

“When you put (the statistics) into perspective, what that means to us as a police organization is it results in hundreds, if not thousands of charges over the years,” he said. “It also develops a lot of confidence that the community is working with the police to solve community problems.

“Crime Stoppers plays an integral role in how we serve the people in this community and beyond,” he added. “This is, again, another very well deserved award.”