Campaigns: Not-for-profit - Crooks captured across the Costa

Campaign: Operation Captura 2
Client: Crimestoppers
PR team: In-house
Timescale: Ongoing from November
Budget: £10,000

Operation Captura 2 (OP2) is a project involving Crimestoppers, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the British Embassy and the Spanish authorities to track down UK criminals believed to be on the run in Spain using the Most Wanted section of the Crimestoppers' website.

Its predecessor - Operation Captura 1 (OP1) - focused on the Costa del Sol and resulted in 13 arrests. OP2 focused its efforts on the Costa Blanca region with 10 appeals.

Objectives

- To encourage people to contact Crimestoppers with information

- To raise awareness of Crimestoppers as an independent crime-fighting charity

- To drive people to the website

Strategy and plan

The launch press conference took place on 6 November. Posters and beer mats featuring the appeal and the special Spanish domain - crimestoppers.es - were distributed to bars popular with UK ex-pats.

Measurement and evaluation

From 6-8 November there were 150 broadcast stories, 17 print articles, 28 web stories, and several blog entries.

Results

The day after the press briefing Donna McCafferty and Anthony Kearney, accused of defrauding the Department for Work and Pensions, were arrested. On 18 November, convicted rapist Andrew Alderman handed himself in. To date the Call Bureau has received 100 pieces of actionable information.