Executive manager of Crime Stoppers TT Garland Samuel is reminding the public that the organisation's hotline should be used for legitimate tips only and not for prank calls or misleading information.

Responding to questions from participants of a webinar on the prevalence of malicious tips on the Crime Stoppers hotline, Samuel said while they were not a big problem, he was concerned about the trend.

He clarified that malicious tips were information that is deliberately false or misleading, while prank calls were simply intended to waste the operator's time.

"Unfortunately it's a feature of free call hotlines that we have problems with prank calls," he explained. "I am dissatisfied with the number of pranks we seem to be getting. So I want to remind people that this is a serious hotline and should not be used for that."

He gave as an example "people calling in to ask for a doubles with slight pepper."

In the case of malicious tips, Samuel said there have been cases where people tried to malign others by giving false information via the hotline.

ASP Lester Kerr, who also attended the webinar, said the police were obligated to respond to tips, but also had a responsibility to do their own investigations to determine which cases were legitimate and which were false.

"We have had incidents where people called officers at the airport and gave them the description of someone who may be transporting drugs.

"When the officers search the person they realise he doesn't have anything illegal.

"These things are sometimes done by someone he had a relationship with and is trying to embarrass him."

Kerr said the police were grateful for the assistance of non-governmental organisations like Crime Stoppers and would continue to support their efforts.