After fierce community backlash, Crime Stoppers is bringing its anonymous poster campaign in St. John's to an early end, effective immediately.

The posters started popping up around St. John's in late May, with business owners, city council and tourists alike expressing confusion and dissatisfaction with the message portrayed.

Project Anonymous was scheduled to end on June 21, but in a media release Wednesday morning, the Newfoundland and Labrador Crime Stoppers chapter announced it would end the project immediately.

CBC reporter Chris O'Neill-Yates shows Dean one of the Crime Stoppers posters on Tuesday in St. John's. (Giphy)

"This campaign is not about fear, nor is it an attempt to impact the citizens or business owners of this province. It is to create a conversation — to make us think," the organization said Tuesday afternoon in an emailed statement sent in response to an interview request, after days of public outcry and posters being ripped down.

The posters had been a point of contention among business owners worried about the message it sent to people visiting St. John's and the Northeast Avalon, where the posters were prominently displayed.

Visiting St. John's from Toronto, James Dean said his impression of the posters is that tourists shouldn't be there.

"You see something like that, that's threatening, I think. It's pretty hard to take," said Dean.

There are good and bad areas to any city, Dean said, but he's surprised to learn the posters describing hypothetical criminal activity in St. John's came from Crime Stoppers, since there is no logo to indicate that.

It's like putting up a 'Beware of Dog' sign. - Gaylynne Gulliver

"Very much, yes, it sounds like it's … not promoting crime, but it's saying that there's crime in this area and stay away," said Dean.

According to Statistics Canada, the crime rates in the province and its capital city have actually dropped dramatically, prompting citizens and local business owners to question the validity of the project.

One of the Crime Stoppers posters is seen inside Marie's Mini Mart on Hamilton Avenue in St. John's on Tuesday afternoon. (Paula Gale/CBC)

The campaign was "never created as a commentary on the amount of crime in our communities," reads the statement from Crime Stoppers, but to focus on anonymity, "the backbone of Crime Stoppers."

'We don't agree with the messaging'

St. John's Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O'Leary said the city gave Crime Stoppers permission to put posters up in the downtown heritage area, beyond the designated poles other groups are permitted to use.

"But we didn't control the messaging and certainly are not supportive of it," she said.

Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O'Leary says the City of St. John's has no control over the messaging on posters put up around the city. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)

The city did not know exactly what was going to be on the posters before granting that heritage approval, O'Leary said.

"Nor do we want to get involved in that, that's not something that the City of St. John's — ethically or morally — needs to get involved in," O'Leary said.

"If we get into that freedom of speech issue, then that's a whole other kettle of fish."

O'Leary said the city is working hard to promote downtown, particularly with the construction underway in the multi-year project to remove old, crumbling water and sewer infrastructure under Water Street.

"We don't agree with the messaging," she said, noting council has been very clear on that with Crime Stoppers.

'Illusion' that downtown unsafe

The Crime Stoppers campaign is hurting local businesses and scaring away tourists, Gaylynne Gulliver, a spokeswoman with Downtown St. John's.

Gaylynne Gulliver is the media relations manager for Downtown St. John's, which works to promote a vibrant downtown core. (Marie-Isabelle Rochon/CBC)

"It's like putting up a 'Beware of Dog' sign. You're kind of looking, 'Where is the dog?'" she said.

"It gives that feeling and that illusion that downtown is not safe," she said, while also being so vague that locals don't even know what it's about.

"Never mind the fact that we have a tourist season starting."

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