Appointed to the post in January 2007, the Crime Stoppers of Halton co-ordinator was recently named the world’s top co-ordinator at the annual Crime Stoppers International conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

Representatives of Crime Stoppers programs from roughly 30 countries attended the event, with Gold chosen from more than 1,200 programs world-wide.

This comes on the heels of Gold being selected Co-ordinator of the Year at the Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers annual conference in Hamilton, held back in June.

Since becoming co-ordinator, the multiple award winner has undertaken several initiatives to improve the local program, including introducing a number of new projects and enhancing Crime Stoppers’ presence in Halton high schools.

Quick to commend those efforts was Halton Crime Stoppers chair Tom Suddaby, who said the award is very prestigious for the organization.

“It recognizes the effort of Crime Stoppers at the grass-roots level and shows what can be accomplished in small communities like ours when you have a police officer who shows dedication, innovative thinking and a willingness to find out the kind of program people in the community want him to deliver,” said Suddaby, who pointed out that Crime Stoppers of Halton has seen a significant increase in tips and subsequent arrests since Gold’s arrival.

“It’s (award) a remarkable achievement and demonstrates the amount of work Sgt. Gold undertook within a very short time.”

Notified of his latest honour while on vacation, Gold said he was “very surprised” and “extremely honoured.” He added that the acknowledgment would not have come without the support of both Crime Stoppers of Halton and the Halton Regional Police Service.

But, he stressed, there’s more work to be done. “Although Crime Stoppers of Halton has made some great

strides in the past year, it’s important that we continue to move forward and improve upon what we already have,” he said. “Everyone involved in Crime Stoppers, from the office staff to our board members and the volunteers, must continue putting forth a 100 per cent effort to raise funds and promote our program.”